International Members
The Inn has a substantial membership who live and practise overseas. In the past few years the Inn has supported the formation of alumni associations in a number of jurisdictions. From time to time new associations are added.
Aim
The aim of the associations is that members might meet perhaps twice a year for dinner and mutually benefit from meeting one another. If the idea finds favour in a particular jurisdiction, the Inn will endeavour to ask local members to suggest a President, Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary so that the association could in effect run itself. The Treasurer and the Under Treasurer, plus other interested members might visit a particular jurisdiction once every four to five years or so. It might also provide a focus for visitor members of the Inn to a particular jurisdiction and encourage links between members of neighbouring Bars.
Organisations
The President of the alumni association should be a widely respected senior member of the Inn; generally a member of the judiciary in the jurisdiction. He or she should be assisted by a Chairman, who also should be widely respected and well known within the jurisdiction. It is the Chair who will direct the alumni association in its routine business. As a minimum the Chair will need the assistance of a Treasurer and a Secretary. These will normally be found from more junior members of the Bar within the jurisdiction. From this base the management committee can grow.
Most important is that the alumni association should be apolitical. It would be entirely against the egalitarian spirit of the Inn if the alumni came to represent one faction or another within a particular jurisdiction. The Inn reserves the right to prevent its name being used by an association if it were deemed to be contrary to the Inn’s ethos.
Current Alumni Associations
Malaysia
Malaysia has the largest and most active alumni association with well over a thousand members. You can join via its website.
Hong Kong
The Chair of the Society is Mr Justice Frank Stock, a Bencher of the Inn and a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.
If you wish to obtain more information about the Hong Kong Society, please contact its Secretary, Eugene Fung SC.
The Eastern Caribbean
The association’s headquarters is in the island of St Lucia. Its Patron is Sir Brian Alleyne, the immediate former Chief Justice of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The Chair is Mr Peter I Foster, former Mayor of Castries, capital of St Lucia and Acting judge of the OECS.
Contact for alumni Vice Chair/Public Relations Officer, Ms Trudy O Glasgow.
Mauritius
The Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Association of Mauritius was launched in Maritim, Balaclava on 16 November 2012.
The Acting Secretary is Daniel Dangeot.
Ghana
The Lincoln’s Inn Ghana Alumni Association is the only alumni association of the Inn in Africa. The President of the Association is the former State President HE Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, a bencher of the Inn.
The Secretary is Mrs Cynthia Jumu. She can also be contacted by post: PO Box CT5686; Cantonments; Accra; Ghana.
Activities
Events could be held at a suitable local venue. On the occasion of a visit by the Treasurer of the Inn, Lincoln’s Inn would in part sponsor the event. The Treasurer would address members following the dinner on what is happening in the Inn and bring everyone up to date, should that be desired. To arrange such visits there would have to be significant support locally.