A distinguished thought leader and public intellectual, Prof. Kenneth K. Mwenda read law at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He has had a stellar academic career as well as an outstanding career as a leading international development practitioner, travelling to more than thirty countries worldwide. His is a fine blend of theory and practice, with many years of international experience in both academia and international development. Prof Mwenda has maintained a parallel academic and professional life, publishing academic books and other scholarly work in top journals and law reviews as well as holding various senior academic appointments at leading universities internationally, while serving with the World Bank. A member of the editorial boards of several scholarly journals, including the Journal of International Banking Regulation and the Africa Finance Journal, Prof Mwenda is also an occasional editor of the Journal of African Business, and was until recently the joint Editor-in-Chief of the World Bank’s Law, Justice and Development Book Series. He serves as the Program Manager and Executive Head of the World Bank’s Voice Secondment Program, a major capacity-building initiative of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank. Prof Mwenda has taught law at top universities in the US, the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa.

With sustained and continuing thought leadership in academia, in addition to valuable international development experience gained at the World Bank, Prof Mwenda has strong inter- and multi-disciplinary skills. He is a widely recognised thought-leader in the fields of public international law, law and economy in developing countries, international economic law, law in development, the political economy of law, cognate areas of law and the social sciences, international organizations, international and comparative corporate law, securities regulation, banking regulation, financial services regulation, emerging markets, corporate finance law, corporate insolvency law, trusts, company law, corporate governance, contracts, anti-money laundering and compliance, as well as governance and anti-corruption. Prof. Mwenda is author of twenty-four (24) scholarly books and over eighty (80) articles in leading law reviews and academic journals. Some of his scholarly work has been authored jointly with prominent Supreme Court Judges. Further, a number of his former law students have gone on to become prominent Supreme Court Judges and High Court Judges, including an eminent Chief Justice, while others continue to serve as law professors, judicial clerks and prominent Cabinet Ministers in their respective countries.

In 2014 and 2008, respectively, after a rigorous and thorough examination of Prof Mwenda’s selected scholarly books and peer-refereed journal articles by two leading universities in the United Kingdom and South Africa, namely, the University of Hull and Rhodes University, Prof Mwenda was admitted to the rarely awarded Higher Doctorate degrees of Doctor of Science in Economics (Hull, DSc(Econ), 2014) and Doctor of Laws (Rhodes, LLD, 2008). He also holds a PhD in Securities Regulation from a leading British university, the University of Warwick. At the World Bank, Prof Mwenda has served additionally as Senior Legal Counsel in the Legal Vice-Presidency as well as Senior Legal Counsel in the World Bank’s Integrity Vice-Presidency. He has also advised several States and governments across many regions of the world on various legal, institutional and policy reforms. Prof. Mwenda is a highly sought-after speaker, and has been interviewed and quoted by numerous print and broadcast media, including the New York Times (US), the Times (UK), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, UK), Sky TV (UK), and the Voice of America (VOA, US).

Concurrent with his work at the World Bank, Prof. Mwenda has held the esteemed position of Extraordinary Professor of Law at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He continues to serve as Extraordinary Professor of Law at the University of Lusaka, Zambia, whilst based in Washington DC, USA. Prior to joining the World Bank, Prof. Mwenda served as an Assistant Professor of Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Warwick. A Fellow of the British Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), Prof Mwenda is a recipient of several international academic awards, including a graduate fellowship from Yale University Law School in the US. His scholarly work has been cited as authority not only in academia, but also by the courts of law, most recently by the Supreme Court for the Republic of Zambia in the case of Ventriglia and Ventriglia v. Eastern and Southern Africa Trade and Development Bank and Robert Simeza SCZ NO. 13 OF 2010 (Appeal No. 11/ 2009). His other scholarly work has been seminal in some of the research work and country assessments carried out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). And Prof Mwenda has taught as Adjunct Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law (WCL) in Washington DC. In addition, he holds, inter alia, the joint BCL/MPhil in Law degree from the University of Oxford (UK) and an MBA degree from the University of Hull (UK), with subsequent executive leadership training from Harvard (HKS), Cornell and Georgetown Universities, respectively. His first professional law degree, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), is from the University of Zambia. Additionally, Prof. Mwenda is a member of the Bar in Zambia. A US Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and Fellow of the International Compliance Association (FICA), Prof. Mwenda has also served as Visiting Full Professor of Law at a number of leading universities in Europe and South Africa, including the University of Miskolc in Hungary and the University of Cape Town (UCT), and has given many lead lectures and presentations at major US universities, including George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Duke University, Temple University, and the University of South Florida.