Former Uganda Christian University (UCU) School of Law Interim Dean, Dr. Brian Dennison yesterday, the 28th day of June 2024, delivered a guest lecture to an audience of students and alumni at the university.
In the event which was hosted both physically (at the Mukono Campus) and virtually (via zoom), the former law school head spoke about “The Status Rights and the Treatment of Persons With Disabilities Within Customary Legal Frameworks in Uganda: A Case Study of Mukono District”. The lecture started at 11:00am.
The discussion focused on several pertinent issues surrounding theories on disability studies, customary law and legal pluralism, rights directed change strategies, the relevant legal and policy framework, marriage and divorce, land issues and customary law, all in the wider context of disability, with a focus on the district of Mukono, the case study of his presentation.
In his presentation, Dr. Dennison made specific observation about Uganda’s stagnated or frozen customary law practice, contrasting it with the practice in other regions like South Africa, where the practice was “alive”. He particularly made comment about the dichotomous nature of customary law in Uganda today with its practitioners using it to either uphold or abuse human rights, usually to the disadvantage of people with disabilities.
Dr Dennison is also the editor of one of the fundamental books on the scholarship of legal ethics in the country titled “Legal Ethics and Professionalism: A Handbook for Uganda” which he co-authored with Dr. Pamela Tibihikirra-Kalyegyira, the recently appointed director of the Law Development Centre (LDC).
He served as a missionary law lecturer at UCU from 2008 to 2015, and at that time, he also served as interim Dean for the school of law, while at the same time coordinating moots and clinical legal education (CLE). He was very grateful to be back home and happy to find that many of the programs that he started for CLE have continued to run to date. He was happy to find that some of his students were following in his footsteps and are now teaching the law.
He currently practices law in Savannah, Georgia (USA) as an in house counsel for the Savannah Chatham County Public School System and also serves as the president of the Board of Uganda Christian University Partners (USA). He has also continued to teach law as an adjunct professor with the Regent University School of Law (Virginia Beach, USA) since 2016.
He currently holds masters degrees in religion and business and also has two doctoral degrees in law. His scholarly works can be accessed via the link https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2250309
