Deus Mugabe : Africa’s Legal Millennial

“Exceptional lawyers focus on solving the problems of their clients in practical ways. The biggest threat to a legal career is laziness.” – Dues Mugabe

Deus Mugabe is a PhD researcher at Queen Mary University of London, where he is studying the challenges faced by African countries in implementing transfer pricing rules. Deus holds an LLM in Tax Law (with Distinction) from Queen Mary University of London, a Postgraduate Diploma in Taxation and Revenue Administration from the East African School of Taxation, a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the Law Development Centre, and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Makerere University School of Law. Deus is a partner and head of the tax practice at H&G Advocates, a leading corporate and commercial law firm in Kampala. H&G Advocates is the oldest law firm in Uganda, serving generations for over 120 years. Deus specialises in all aspects of tax practice, business advisory and insolvency law. He is the author of a leading textbook on insolvency law in Uganda. He acts as the Editor of The Domestic Tax Laws of Uganda, an updated annual compendium of Uganda’s tax laws. He has functioned as a visiting lecturer at Uganda’s leading law school (Makerere University School of Law) and was a lecturer of income tax law at the East African School of Taxation. In his spare time, he enjoys reading books, both fiction and non-fiction. He also makes it a point to read at least one case per day to keep up to date with the law. He plays football and tennis regularly, enjoys cooking, and spending quality time with his family.

1. The Driving Force for Choosing the Legal Profession.

Several factors conspired to make Deus a lawyer. Firstly, he witnessed injustice. He noticed, growing up as a young boy in a village, that the poor often suffered injustices. They lost their property without compensation, and in some cases, they lost their loved ones, and the perpetrators walked free. He realised, along the way, thanks to reading many novels and books, that if one is going to contribute to fairness and justice, the best thing to do is to join the legal fraternity. The second reason, and he is not sure if it is not more important than the first, was that he grew up in a poor neighbourhood. He was one of the lucky ones in the village to go to a good school. He grew up with a determination to avoid the poverty he saw around him in the villages. As a child, he knew that if he studied and joined a noble profession such as the legal or medical profession, he would at least not live below the poverty line. Thus, the goal, or the dream, was borne. It was a distant dream, as he is a first-generation lawyer in his family and indeed village. In fact, in his early years, he did not know exactly what one had to do to become a lawyer. He knew one thing guaranteed him a chance: being a good student. That, to him, meant being studious and focused. He knew he had to read hard and focus on his studies. He did that and, as luck would have it, found himself in the best law school in Uganda.

Practicing law is deeply fulfilling. As a lawyer, clients depend on him to save them from endless and unpredictable legal conundrums. Every time he, as a lawyer, delivers results that protect the client, he feels a deep sense of satisfaction. The legal profession places lawyers in a fiduciary position with their clients and clothes them with a lot of power: to influence negotiations in transactions and conveyancing, and to safeguard the liberties of citizens. He finds that the responsibilities and role of the advocate in society are so important that he feels lucky to be one of them. As a result, he takes every set of instructions very seriously and applies his very best efforts when handling any matter. As far as he is concerned, the lawyer’s job of appearing before court or a tribunal on behalf of a client is both a privilege and a blessing. The same goes for providing legal advice and overseeing transactions. That is why he is relentless when pursuing client instructions.

2. Qualities of an Exceptional Lawyer and How Young Professionals Can Cultivate Such Attributes.

Deus believes that to be a good lawyer, one must be willing to work hard. Exceptional lawyers do not just work hard – they work much, much harder than their contemporaries. They set their priorities in order. They read a lot and stay up to date. Usually, they have a huge collection of cases, statutes, and textbooks, not for decoration, but for study purposes. Exceptional lawyers focus on solving the problems of their clients in practical ways. The biggest threat to a legal career is laziness. Many lawyers tend to be casual in their dealings. For instance, some lawyers stop reading cases when they leave law school. They do not read new statutes and do not own leading textbooks. This is dangerous for a lawyer.

Young lawyers wishing to be exceptional need to understand that there is simply no shortcut or alternative to working hard. Some young lawyers confuse the evolving technological landscape as a substitute for effort. Their research is based largely on AI tools, without any input of their own. This is a misconception. Technology has made legal practice much better and easier; it has not replaced the requirement to deeply understand the client’s problem or the creative thinking that is central to legal practice. The exceptional lawyer of the future remains the one who will outwork, out-think, and outsmart his or her opponents, one who will provide practical solutions and immerse himself or herself in the work and problems of the client.

The exceptional lawyer of the future is one who will know the law, as finding the law will be much easier using AI and other technological tools. Knowing the law, and not merely knowing about the law, will require intense reading. Young lawyers must also be careful when choosing their mentors. One can be as good—or as bad—as the lawyer who introduced them to legal practice.

3. Significant Ongoing Project or Initiatives and Possible Impacts.

Currently, Deus is working on how to improve legal research in Uganda. The country does not have many legal journals that help scholars and practitioners access peer-reviewed articles on practical and useful subjects. He and his team are working tirelessly to develop an electronic database of journals covering tax, insolvency, constitutional law, criminal law and environmental law. Once the database is up and running—and attracting reputable contributions—it will make legal research easier and seamless.

4. Role Models and Impactful Books.

In respect of life generally, Deus considers himself a lucky man to say that his role model is his father (“Papa” as he likes to call him) from whom he learnt all the important virtues – work ceaselessly hard, pray, and stay humble and kind.

Turning to his legal journey, Deus’s career has been profoundly influenced by very many lawyers. Some he has watched from a distance, while he has been lucky to work with others. Professor David J. Bakibinga, a commercial law professor at Makerere University, and Prof. Christiana Panayi, Dr. Bernard Schneider, Dr. Vasiliki Koukoulioti and Prof. Joy Svasti-Salee of Queen Mary University of London have influenced his career in tax. These are very intelligent and knowledgeable people from whom he learnt everything needed to be an exceptional international tax lawyer. When he started working, he was fortunate to work directly under the supervision of a leading practitioner in Uganda, Mr. Andrew Kibaya, who taught him the art of advocacy and legal practice. “As a good lawyer, you cannot afford to be casual,” Mr. Kibaya often said. He exemplified the qualities of an exceptional lawyer. From a distance, he closely observed exceptional lawyers in Uganda, learning everything he could from their practice. These included John Fisher Kanyemimba (whom he later joined at H&G Advocates), Joseph Kyazze, Festus Akunobera, Cephas Birungi, among others.

Deus has read many books, and it is difficult to choose one that has shaped his perspective. But if he must choose one, it would be Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He believes in the ten-thousand-hour rule and the many insights presented in the book. Gladwell also discusses the traits of great lawyers, including Joe Flom of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

5. Advice or Guiding Principles for Young Legal Professionals and Advocates Trying to Find their Place and Purpose in the Legal Terrain.

Young legal professionals have arrived at one of the most interesting times to be a lawyer. Legal research is much easier than it used to be many years ago. AI tools and technology are helping legal research and reducing the time spent finding relevant legal principles and authorities. However, this can never replace the requirement of in-depth reading. Young legal professionals cannot afford to be lazy or casual. It is important to specialize if circumstances allow. Depending on the jurisdiction, it may be wise to focus one’s practice and knowledge on a few areas of practice. Anyone trying to find their place and purpose in legal practice must learn the virtue of patience. They must focus on accumulating the relevant skills and knowledge. A common mistake is to focus on money before acquiring the requisite skills and experience. If one is lucky enough to land a job in a big law firm, they should learn as much as possible. They should learn a thing or two from almost every lawyer they work with.

Increasingly, it is common for a practicing lawyer to receive a document, for instance, a pleading, that does not appear to have been written by a lawyer. This remains the case even though many law schools teach some form of legal writing and drafting. As a young legal professional aspiring to claim a place in legal circles, one must perfect their writing and drafting skills.

Click here to read our previous Millennial, Cleatine Asongwe Dhin Kangue

Editorial Team
Silver Obioha
Clinton Nyamongo
Kazeem Afolabi
Dikeledi Matlhagare
Tolulope Olasunkanmi
Sulaimon Badmus
Aya Hamdy
Princess Maake
Jemilat Akerele
Vera Enubianozor
Brandon Otieno
Oluwabusayo Awodele
Kyenpiya Wonang
Gift Nwoke
Jessica Odoh
Tracy Karumba
Mary-Jones Ossi
Halimah Oladunni
Mary Linus
Peter Momoh
Jessica Omoruyi