In Memoriam Chief Justice Mambilima

How I would want to be remembered

Justice Irene Mambilima’s death caused shock and disbelief among lawyers and fellow judges. The first woman to hold office as Chief Justice in her country, Justice Mambilima died in Egypt last week during an official visit.

Her passing was marked by a number of tributes from colleagues, friends and admirers. But how did she herself want to be remembered?
Interviewed by retired US Court of Appeal judge, Ann Clair Williams, for the Institute for African Women in Law Legacy Project, Justice Mambilima was asked how she wanted to be remembered.

If you say, how do I want to be remembered when I go…. I would want to be remembered as a hands-on person … my passion is case flow and case management and backlog and delay reduction.

Also, I’d like to be remembered as a person who had a passion for access to justice. I worry so much with the cost of litigation and how much the common person is unable to access judicial services.