“An exceptional lawyer is defined by an unwavering desire to achieve justice for the disadvantaged and a commitment to serving humanity …” – Reech M.D. Malual
Reech Malual is a South Sudanese legal practitioner licensed by the South Sudan Bar Association, possessing over fifteen years of cumulative professional experience spanning journalism and the legal field. He is the Author of “Journalism in Theory & Practice” and “Supremacist’s Illusion -The America’s Greatest Fear” amongst other books. Reech holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.M) and a Master of Laws (LL.M) from the University of Juba, as well as an Executive Diploma in Advanced Research from Robert Kennedy College. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the Parul Institute of Law, India
Reech’s professional trajectory includes tenures as a Trainee Advocate at Maxim LLP, Senior Partner at Badri Law Africa, and Managing Partner at Ancestral Advocates. Currently, he serves as the Managing Partner of Akumric Law House, a family law practice established in 1987. This appointment maintains a multi-generational legal legacy initiated by his late father, Mareu Deng Malual-Akumric, the former President of the High Court of Upper Nile State.
Prior to his legal practice, Reech established a career in print and broadcast journalism, with professional contributions to the United Nations’ Radio Miraya, CTV South Sudan, where he served as Station Manager, and the Business Focus newspaper, where he served as Managing Editor. Furthermore, he is the founder of the Coalition of Public Interest Litigants in South Sudan and has previously served as the Deputy Spokesperson for the South Sudan Bar Association.
1. What ignited Reech’s passion for the legal profession, and what continues to make the practice of law a deeply fulfilling pursuit for him?
Reech’s passion for the legal profession was shaped by two powerful influences; his parents. His mother, Awadhia G. D. Ayok, is a journalist who spent nearly two (2) decades in the media field before him, and her career first drew him into journalism as well. For almost ten years, Reech worked as both Print, and Broadcast journalist in the war-torn Republic of South Sudan, covering stories of death, displacement, and development until 2016. That chapter of his life was profoundly fulfilling, because journalism gave him access to every stratum of society – the vulnerable, the deaf, the meek, the powerful, and the richest as well as connected him to the pulse of humanity.
It was his father, however, who ultimately drew him to the law. Mareu Deng Malual-Akumric was a renowned lawyer who died while serving as President of the High Court in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State. Inspired both by his legacy and by his own journalistic experience, Reech graduated with an LL.B from the University of Juba, South Sudan in 2015 and immediately entered legal practice with equal passion. Law, for him, is more than a profession, it is a family legacy. He is the third generation of lawyers in the Malual-Akumric Achiek e Reech Family of Goragok Boma, Ajuong Payam, Twic East County, Jonglei State, Republic of South Sudan.
The communication skills and public engagement he honed as a journalist translated naturally into legal advocacy. Just two years into practice, he was appointed Deputy Spokesperson of the South Sudan Bar Association in 2017, and in 2019 he founded the Coalition of Public Interest Litigants in South Sudan (CPIL-SOUTH SUDAN), an organisation he continues to lead in the pursuit of justice for the disadvantaged.
What continues to motivate him is simple: legal practice is an avenue for securing the rights of the disadvantaged, and that mission is what keeps him devoted to it. When his father passed, his colleagues among the judiciary encouraged him to follow him onto the bench. While Reech was deeply honoured, he did not feel ready to assume a judicial seat at such a young age and chose instead to pursue a standing counsel path within the bar, where he believed he could serve the cause of justice most effectively.
2. In Reech’s opinion, what qualities define a truly exceptional lawyer in today’s world?
An exceptional lawyer is defined by an unwavering desire to achieve justice for the disadvantaged and a commitment to serving humanity, viewing the profession as a public service rather than merely a means of personal enrichment, though earning a livelihood remains a legitimate pursuit.
3. What is the next groundbreaking project or initiative that Reech is or would be working on and what impact is he hoping it will make?
Reech is currently pursuing doctoral research (PhD) at Parul University, India centered on judicial digitalisation, specifically examining how artificial intelligence can optimise justice delivery, litigation efficiency, and the fairness of trial proceedings. This project addresses the imperative to modernise the justice system in the Republic of South Sudan to meet 21st Century modern standards, aiming to mitigate the systemic inefficiencies and limitations inherent in manual legal processes.
4. Which legal minds and books have shaped or is shaping Reech’s thoughts and perspectives?
Justice Mareu Deng Malual-Akumric once remarked to a governor in the Upper Nile State: “If law were merely a simple linguistic sentence, a four-year faculty of law would not have been established, nor would lawyers dedicate their time to studying the discipline.” He offered this counsel while serving as the official legal advisor to the Honourable Governor D.K in the 1990s, who had trivialised the law to circumvent legal boundaries and act ultra vires. My intellectual development has been profoundly influenced by my father, alongside Professor Deng Awur Wechnyin, former Dean of the School of Law at the University of Juba, and the preeminent jurist, Lord Denning.
5. What advice or guiding principles would Reech offer young legal professionals and advocates trying to find their place and purpose in the legal terrain?
Having navigated the profession from journalism into the bar, and from private practice into public-interest advocacy, Adv. Reech Malual offers the following guidance built on two layers of principle including “five foundational pillars” that should anchor every legal career, and “four strategic measures” that translate those ideals into daily practice.
The Five Foundational Pillars of Legal Practice:
- Define your North Star. Identify the core values that drew you into law in the first place, and let those values serve as a benchmark when choosing cases, clients, chambers, or causes. A clear moral compass separates a lasting career from a fleeting one.
- Cultivate absolute integrity. Within the legal system, professional credibility is the most significant asset a practitioner can possess. It cannot be rebuilt overnight once lost so guard it as you would guard your licence itself.
- Pursue a specialised niche. Broad legal knowledge is essential, but it is deep expertise that makes a lawyer indispensable. Choose a domain, master it, and become the counsel others turn to when that subject is at stake.
- Lead with empathy. Every brief represents a human story. Effective advocacy requires stepping into the client’s world and perceiving the dispute through their eyes not merely through statutes and precedents.
- Treat the law as a living discipline. The legal landscape is not static; it is dynamic, evolving with each judgment, statute, and societal shift. Approach your career as a perpetual student to remain adaptable to changing jurisprudential standards.
The Four Strategic Measures of Legal Practice:
- Seek diverse mentorship. Learn from peers, senior practitioners, and members of the judiciary alike; each vantage point offers a different navigation tool for the profession.
- Exercise principled selectivity. Exercise the autonomy to decline roles or matters that compromise your ethical boundaries. Value alignment is the surest safeguard against the burnout that consumes so many promising careers.
- Build emotional resilience. High-stakes litigation exacts a personal toll. Establish rigorous boundaries between the courtroom and the home, the brief and the self to preserve your mental well-being for the long arc of advocacy.
- Commit to pro bono service. Pro bono work is not merely charity; it is the laboratory of the profession. It reinforces the fundamental purpose of advocacy while sharpening courtroom proficiency and exposing you to the realities of the most vulnerable members of society.
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