Law in the Global South plays a pivotal role in shaping justice systems, governance, and human rights in diverse and rapidly changing societies. Legal frameworks in these regions often reflect the complexities of post-colonial legacies, economic inequalities, and social justice struggles. The development of law in the Global South is crucial for addressing issues such as access to justice, land rights, and environmental protection. Additionally, the region offers unique perspectives on legal pluralism, where traditional, customary, and formal legal systems coexist, providing important insights for global legal reform and justice innovation.
People
Dr Nauman Reayat
Convener, GSN
Nauman is the founder and convener of GSN and coordinator of this group. Please see details on Nauman’s interests and expertise here
Dr Jayanta Ghosh
Dr Jayanta Ghosh is currently serving as the Head and Research Fellow at the Centre for Regulatory Studies, Governance, and Public Policy at The W.B. National University of Juridical Sciences in India. Dr Ghosh has made significant contributions in the fields of Intellectual Property Law, Law and Technology, Information Privacy, Data Protection, and Data Security Laws. His work spans diverse areas, with ongoing projects, including a collaborative effort with the University of Cambridge on “Intellectual Property and Sustainability.” His educational journey includes obtaining a doctorate in law from the Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Dr. Ghosh’s dedication to his field has been recognized through prestigious fellowships, including the DAAD Fellowship and Indo-Canadian Shastri Institute Fellowship. Dr. Ghosh is also the founder of The IPThink-Tank, an initiative aimed at spreading awareness of Intellectual Property Law to society.
DR JING WANG
Dr Jing Wang, Associate Professor in Law at the University of Leicester, Member of Global South Network, and Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Internet Law & Policy (SCILP – the University of Strathclyde), specialises in Antitrust / Competition Law teaching and research. Her research is published in leading international journals Oxford Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, World Competition, Fordham International Law Journal, amongst others.
An active international conference speaker (e.g., Oxford, 2023 & 2016; Lisbon, Amsterdam, Tokyo, 2022; Chicago, 2021; Stanford, 2020; Singapore, 2019 & 2017; London, Toronto, 2018; Mexico City, 2017), Jing’s research examines two international antitrust themes which affect many jurisdictions, with particular focus on comparative antitrust issues arising in the UK, EU, USA and China.
Jing also researches how to make study of law more stimulating for students: her innovative work in this area arose out of her research funded by the ESRC IAA and the Clark Foundation, leading to her development and use of digital animations to encourage students studying Antitrust and Contact to think more deeply about the impact of commercial activities on societal development.
Samuel González Cataño
Juridical Sciences Doctorate (JSD) Student, Yale Law School, Yale University.
Samuel González Cataño is a Mexican lawyer and political scientist currently pursuing a J.S.D. at Yale Law School, where he also obtained his LL.M. in 2022. He has collaborated at Isonomía, a prestigious Mexican journal on law and philosophy, and served in several positions at the Mexican Supreme Court and the General Consulate of Mexico in New York. Samuel’s research interests include comparative law in Latin America & the Global South, legal & judicial politics, and human rights & democracy.
OBERT DANIEL MAWADZE
An accomplished legal professional with extensive experience in various facets of law and academia, A Doctoral of Laws (LLD) researcher at the University of Pretoria (UP), specializing in Comparative Constitutional, International law and Electoral law. My research area of interest focuses on the impact of constitutional amendments in Africa.
My journey in the legal field began with a Bachelor of Laws (LLBs) (Honours) degree from the University of Zimbabwe, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Law, Conciliation, and Arbitration from the same institution.
I pursued a Master of Laws in Constitutional and International Law degree at the University of Zimbabwe, an LLM-Master of Laws in Extractive Industry Law in Africa from the University of Pretoria, a Postgraduate Certificate in Risk, Compliance & Governance from the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), South Africa which qualification reflects my commitment to staying abreast of contemporary issues in governance and regulatory compliance. I pursued a Master of Science degree in International Relations from Midlands State University Zimbabwe. My professional experience spans over 13 years as a Legal Practitioner or Advocate in Zimbabwe, where I have honed skills in litigation, legal research, advocacy, and client representation. This experience was further enriched by my role as a lecturer of law at the University of Zimbabwe where I imparted legal knowledge to the next generation of legal professionals.
Additionally, I served and am currently serving as a legal advisor and board member to private mining and investment organizations, including government agencies focusing on rural infrastructural development, Labour law, Investment and property law, Commercial law litigation, Criminal law and Corporate law. My future aspirations include completing the Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree, further enhancing my expertise in comparative Constitutional and International law, Electoral law, Extractive (Mining) Industry law, Environmental law, corporate law, joining the academia or political leadership in my country Zimbabwe.
Prof Charles Manga Fombad
Charles Manga Fombad is Professor of comparative constitutional law and the Director of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa, (ICLA), Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, a fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and until recently, a Vice President of the International Association of Constitutional law.
Olum Lornah Afoyomungu
Olum Lornah Afoyomungu is a feminist lawyer and writer from Uganda. She holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Makerere University, a Post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre, and a Master of Laws in human rights and democratization in Africa from the University of Pretoria. She has worked as a Legal Associate at Development Law Associates, a Program Manager, Training and Curriculum Developer at the African Development Law Institute where her role involved the conceptualization, planning, and delivering seminars in the area of international law and development. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.
Prof Hakeem Yusuf
Professor Hakeem Yusuf is a Co-Convener, GSN. He is the Professor of Global Law at the University of Derby. Hakeem’s research interests are in comparative constitutionalism, colonial (rule of) law, transitional justice, and business and human rights. His work in transitional justice, colonial (rule of) law, and comparative constitutional law have won international recognition. In 2011, he served on a truth and reconciliation commission in Osun State, Nigeria. Details on his works and achievements are here
Prof Pablo Cortés
Pablo Cortés holds the Chair in Civil Justice at Leicester Law School, where he teaches and conducts research in the fields of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), civil procedure, and consumer law. He also serves as an arbitrator-adjudicator for CEDR, handling aviation, telecommunications, and water disputes.
Pablo has authored three books on technology and dispute resolution, including his latest work, The Law of Consumer Redress in an Evolving Digital Market, published by Cambridge University Press and featuring a foreword by the Lord Chief Justice. Additionally, he serves as a co-editor for the legal journal Mediation: Theory and Practice.
He has been a distinguished guest at numerous international conferences and expert meetings, including those hosted by the UN Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the European Commission, and the European Parliament (Internal Market and Legal Affairs Committees). Pablo is a fellow of the National Centre for Technology and Dispute Resolutions at the University of Massachusetts. In 2012, he was a Gould Research Fellow at Stanford University.
In December 2022, he received the National Mediation Award in the House of Commons, winning the category of ADR Academic Researcher of the Year.
Federico Jorge Gaxiola Lappe
Juridical Sciences Doctorate (JSD) Student,School of Law, New York University (NYU)
Federico Jorge Gaxiola Lappe is a JSD student from Mexico at NYU. He completed an LL.M. in Legal Theory at NYU as a Hauser Global Scholar and a Bachelor of Arts in Law at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. He worked for approximately 6 years at the National Supreme Court of Mexico, where he was a judicial assistant to Justice Cossío Díaz and Justice Medina Mora, and a law clerk to Justice González Alcántara Carrancá. In 2022, Jorge was professor at Escuela Libre de Derecho, where he taught the course Legal Theory. Jorge is interested in the way in which law deals with and resolves conflicts of values. Particularly, he is interested in researching new challenges to democratic practices, like the proliferation of disinformation, that require us to adjust preconceptions about how human rights and democratic processes operate as reciprocal limits and conditions to each other, and about the value of acknowledging the existence of conflict, moral remainders, and moral loss.
MARCUS V. A. B. DE MATOS
Marcus is a Lecturer in Brunel University London, in the Division of Public and International Law. Dr De Matos holds a PhD in Law from Birkbeck, University of London, fully funded by a CAPES Foundation Overseas Scholarship (0999-12-1). He is an Honorary Member at the Institute of Brazilian Lawyers (IAB), and currently a Guest Lecturer at the State Attorney’s Office (PGE/RJ) Professional Postgraduate School, where he teaches Legal Theory classes in the Public Law Programme. Before joining Brunel he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National School of Law in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), funded by the Brazilian National Council of Research (CNPq). Previously he was Director of Teaching Programmes at the Judicial School in the High Labour Courts in Rio de Janeiro (TRT/RJ); Advisor to the State Secretariat for Human Rights in Rio de Janeiro (SEASDH).
Marva Khan
Marva Khan is an Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) at the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. She is also one of the founding members and the Co-Editor of the LUMS Law Journal, and served as an Article Editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal. Her main areas of interest include constitutional law, human rights including disability rights, and gender. From 2020-21, Marva served as the Director, Lahore Chapter, Harvard Club of Pakistan . She also served as the first Vice President of the LUMS Law Alumni Association in 2017-2018. She has also taught at the Punjab Judicial Academy. In 2020, she completed Asian Development Bank’s Training of Trainers on Gender Sensitization and Harassment.
Rashidah Abdul Hamid
Rashidah Abdul Hamid is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, UK. Her PhD project looks at the role of constitutional identity as a basis for limits on constitutional amendments, specifically in the development of the basic structure doctrine in Malaysia. Rashidah is also a Managing Editor of the Cambridge Law Review (2023-2024) and a student fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, Malaysia. Her research interests are in constitutional theory, comparative constitutional law, public law, legal pluralism and the Malaysian legal system. Before undertaking her doctoral research, Rashidah worked as an in-house legal associate at an investment management firm for over 10 years, specializing in corporate law and corporate due diligence. She obtained her BA (Law Tripos) from the University of Cambridge in 2012 and the LLM from the University of Malaya in 2021.
Yelyzaveta Monastyrova
Yelyzaveta Monastyrova is a PhD candidate (2022-2025) at the Law School of the Open University. Her dissertation focuses on the inclusion of exploitation of citizens into the anti-trafficking regimes in Spain, Ukraine and the UK, and the relationship between victimhood and citizenship. Yelyzaveta holds an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master degree in South European Studies from the University of Glasgow, Autonomous University of Madrid and LUISS Guido Carli, and a BA in International Relations from the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University.
Natalia Morales Cerda
PhD Candidate and Postgraduate Teaching Assistant in Public Law at University College London
Natalia Morales Cerda (she/her) is a PhD Candidate and Postgraduate Teaching Assistant in Public Law at University College London. Her PhD research project contributes to the literature on women’s political participation and representation in constitution-making through examining the 2021-2022 Chilean constituent process. Adopting a theoretically informed socio-legal methodology, her research critically assesses women’s direct participation in constituent processes in both democratic and feminist theory. Through this examination, her research also provides a feminist critique of the ‘crisis’ of democratic representation. Natalia has been a visiting scholar at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and at Università degli Studi di Milano.
DR SAEED BAGHERI
Dr Saeed Bagheri is Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Law and the Director of Academic Tutoring (PGT) at the University of Reading School of Law. Prior to joining the University of Reading, Dr Bagheri was a Max Weber Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) from 2017-2019. Dr Bagheri’s scholarship has been cited by academic resources and official documents, including by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom (Order of Business: Economic Activity of Public Bodies – Overseas Matters) Bill Debate (April 2024), Vol. 837, No. 78, p. 229; the Law Council of Australia’s submission to Draft General Comment No. 27 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on Children’s Rights to Access to Justice and Effective Remedies (August 2024); the German Federal Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag, WD2 – 3000 – 031/22, 2022), the Sexual Rights Initiative’s Submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures and the Right to Health (March 2023), the U.S. Peace Action Policy Briefing (2020), etc.
GLOBAL SOUTH NETWORK (GSN) 