Elison Karuhanga
Partner
Expertise
Contacts
elisonk@kaa.co.ug
Direct line No. +256312244125
Professional Qualifications
Masters of Law (LLM) in Oil and Gas Law, University of Aberdeen
Post Graduate Diploma in Law, Law Development Centre
LLB from University of Kent
Profile Summary
Elison works in the Litigation and Energy law department. The department has and continues to successfully represent several local and international clients in varied sectors including oil and gas companies, telecommunications, construction, banking, as well as public bodies and government agencies.
He is also a trained Oil and Gas lawyer having obtained an LLM (Oil and Gas Law) from the University of Aberdeen. He was a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN). Elison is a member of GOXI which is part of the World Bank Institutes’ Governance for Extractive Industries Program which brings together practitioners from government, private sector, Ngo’s and think tanks with the aim of strengthening governance in the extractive industries’ sector. He is also a member of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum.
Elison was recently asked by the Oxford Energy Institute to contribute to a paper comparing the legal regime in Uganda governing oil and gas law with the one in Brazil together with the Director of the Institute Dr. Eduardo Guedes Pereira.
He was elected by his peers at the University of Aberdeen as the student representative for the LLM (Oil and Gas) Law class 2010-2011. He was invited by Ugandan Women Lawyers under their umbrella organisation (FIDA) to do a presentation on “Oil and Gas Law in Uganda”.
Elison has experience in the Banking sector and worked with a leading bank for over three years. He worked first as a banking officer and understands the general operations of the bank. He later worked as a legal officer in the bank’s legal department and was responsible for the preparation and perfection of legal documentation, the recovery of non-performing assets and provision of legal advice. Elison together with others appeared before the Parliamentary Legal Committee on behalf of the Uganda Bankers Association to address issues to do with mortgage regulation.
He has invaluable experience in insolvency, securitization and document registration not limited to the registration of trademarks, patents and copyrights.
He has also worked in the Ministry of Justice for over five years as a state attorney and have an excellent appreciation of public and regulatory law and rendered legal advice on diverse subjects to the government of Uganda. I have extensive litigation experience and have appeared before all the courts of record in Uganda as well as the East African Court of Justice. He is an adept litigator and is effective, efficient and expeditious in court.
He has provided resourceful representation to a wide range of clients and following his resignation from the Ministry of Justice he was retained to represent the government in a major lawsuit. During his tenure under the Ministry of Justice he handled matters on behalf of the State House of Uganda, Ministry of Defense, The Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces, the Uganda Police Force, The Ministry of Local Government, The Ministry of Lands, The Registrar of Titles of Uganda, the Ministry of Finance, Parliament of Uganda and the Ministry of Water and Environment to mention but a few.
Professional Memberships
- Member, Uganda Law Society
- Member, East African Law Society
- Member, Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum
- Member, Chevening Alumni
- Student Member, Honorable Society of the Inner Temple
Employment History
2017 to date: Partner, Kampala Associated Advocates
2013 – 2017: Partner, Karuhanga, Kasajja & Co. Advocates
2008 – 2013: State Attorney, Directorate of Civil Litigation, Attorney Generals Chambers.
2011 – 2011: Secondee, Ashurst LLP
2006 – 2008: Legal Officer DFCU Bank Limited
2006 – 2006: Banking Officer Personal Credit DFCU Bank Limited
Top Matters
- Currently Elison is part of the legal team defending Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia in Uganda’s largest banking and finance matter to ever be litigated regarding banking regulations, credit and loan agreements worth USD 120 million.
- Advised an upstream oil company on the establishment of its operations in Uganda, on the content of its Production Share Agreement and helped the company obtain an exploration licence in Uganda’s first ever competitive licensing round.
- Successfully represented a client in Uganda’s largest mining dispute regarding USD 700 million.
- Successfully argued the biggest case in Uganda-the Presidential Election Petition before the Supreme Court of Uganda.
- As a State Attorney he appeared in land mark cases and set far reaching precedents. He also successfully litigated a number of civil and commercial disputes saving the Government billions of Uganda Shillings. He was involved in litigation to recover USD 70 Million (Seventy Million United States Dollars) from a local business man on behalf of government. He also represented the Government in the Supreme Court in a matter involving USD 150 Million. He was also involved in the Constitutional case regarding the Terrorism bombings in Uganda where he represented the government in Ugandan courts and in the East African Court of Justice. He has also represented the government in a number of commercial arbitrations and various suits before the Commercial Court of Uganda.
- While at DFCU Bank Limited (a bank owned in large part by Actis) he appeared on behalf of all Banks in Uganda before the Parliamentary Committee on Physical Infrastructure and the Legal & Drafting Affairs Committee of Parliament to explain the Financial Institutions views on the then proposed Land Law.
- Elison sat on the Bank’s job evaluation committee and determined the structure and salary scale of every employee in DFCU Bank Limited the fifth largest Bank in Uganda. The Banks biggest shareholder is Actis and the Bank is listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange.
Publications
- Elison, together with Dr. Eduardo GuedesPereiera (a Director of the Oxford Energy Institute and an Oil Company Executive), wrote an article for the Oxford Energy Journal tiled “Brazil and Uganda: Government Intervention and Oil Development Prospects.” http://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/OEF-90.pdf
- He is also a contributor to a book published by Globe Law and Business in London titled “Upstream Law and Regulation. A Global Guide”. He is also a contributor to a book published by Globe Law and Business in London titled “African Upstream Oil and Gas”.
- Elison was invited to contribute an article on the World Bank online forum regarding on energy governance (GOXI) on Transparency in the Extractives Industry. The link is here; http://goxi.org/profiles/blogs/transparency-is-only-part-of-the-story
- He has written two articles for a South Sudan Newspaper “The New Nation” reviewing the new Petroleum Act of South Sudan and the North-South Sudan Agreement on oil and other related economic matters.
Elison works in the Litigation and Energy law department. The department has and continues to successfully represent several local and international clients in varied sectors including oil and gas companies, telecommunications, construction, banking, as well as public bodies and government agencies.
He is also a trained Oil and Gas lawyer having obtained an LLM (Oil and Gas Law) from the University of Aberdeen. He was a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN). Elison is a member of GOXI which is part of the World Bank Institutes’ Governance for Extractive Industries Program which brings together practitioners from government, private sector, Ngo’s and think tanks with the aim of strengthening governance in the extractive industries’ sector. He is also a member of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum.
Elison was recently asked by the Oxford Energy Institute to contribute to a paper comparing the legal regime in Uganda governing oil and gas law with the one in Brazil together with the Director of the Institute Dr. Eduardo Guedes Pereira.
He was elected by his peers at the University of Aberdeen as the student representative for the LLM (Oil and Gas) Law class 2010-2011. He was invited by Ugandan Women Lawyers under their umbrella organisation (FIDA) to do a presentation on “Oil and Gas Law in Uganda”.
Elison has experience in the Banking sector and worked with a leading bank for over three years. He worked first as a banking officer and understands the general operations of the bank. He later worked as a legal officer in the bank’s legal department and was responsible for the preparation and perfection of legal documentation, the recovery of non-performing assets and provision of legal advice. Elison together with others appeared before the Parliamentary Legal Committee on behalf of the Uganda Bankers Association to address issues to do with mortgage regulation.
He has invaluable experience in insolvency, securitization and document registration not limited to the registration of trademarks, patents and copyrights.
He has also worked in the Ministry of Justice for over five years as a state attorney and have an excellent appreciation of public and regulatory law and rendered legal advice on diverse subjects to the government of Uganda. I have extensive litigation experience and have appeared before all the courts of record in Uganda as well as the East African Court of Justice. He is an adept litigator and is effective, efficient and expeditious in court.
He has provided resourceful representation to a wide range of clients and following his resignation from the Ministry of Justice he was retained to represent the government in a major lawsuit. During his tenure under the Ministry of Justice he handled matters on behalf of the State House of Uganda, Ministry of Defense, The Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces, the Uganda Police Force, The Ministry of Local Government, The Ministry of Lands, The Registrar of Titles of Uganda, the Ministry of Finance, Parliament of Uganda and the Ministry of Water and Environment to mention but a few.
Professional Memberships
- Member, Uganda Law Society
- Member, East African Law Society
- Member, Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum
- Member, Chevening Alumni
- Student Member, Honorable Society of the Inner Temple
Employment History
2017 to date: Partner, Kampala Associated Advocates
2013 – 2017: Partner, Karuhanga, Kasajja & Co. Advocates
2008 – 2013: State Attorney, Directorate of Civil Litigation, Attorney Generals Chambers.
2011 – 2011: Secondee, Ashurst LLP
2006 – 2008: Legal Officer DFCU Bank Limited
2006 – 2006: Banking Officer Personal Credit DFCU Bank Limited
Top Matters
- Currently Elison is part of the legal team defending Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia in Uganda’s largest banking and finance matter to ever be litigated regarding banking regulations, credit and loan agreements worth USD 120 million.
- Advised an upstream oil company on the establishment of its operations in Uganda, on the content of its Production Share Agreement and helped the company obtain an exploration licence in Uganda’s first ever competitive licensing round.
- Successfully represented a client in Uganda’s largest mining dispute regarding USD 700 million.
- Successfully argued the biggest case in Uganda-the Presidential Election Petition before the Supreme Court of Uganda.
- As a State Attorney he appeared in land mark cases and set far reaching precedents. He also successfully litigated a number of civil and commercial disputes saving the Government billions of Uganda Shillings. He was involved in litigation to recover USD 70 Million (Seventy Million United States Dollars) from a local business man on behalf of government. He also represented the Government in the Supreme Court in a matter involving USD 150 Million. He was also involved in the Constitutional case regarding the Terrorism bombings in Uganda where he represented the government in Ugandan courts and in the East African Court of Justice. He has also represented the government in a number of commercial arbitrations and various suits before the Commercial Court of Uganda.
- While at DFCU Bank Limited (a bank owned in large part by Actis) he appeared on behalf of all Banks in Uganda before the Parliamentary Committee on Physical Infrastructure and the Legal & Drafting Affairs Committee of Parliament to explain the Financial Institutions views on the then proposed Land Law.
- Elison sat on the Bank’s job evaluation committee and determined the structure and salary scale of every employee in DFCU Bank Limited the fifth largest Bank in Uganda. The Banks biggest shareholder is Actis and the Bank is listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange.
Publications
- Elison, together with Dr. Eduardo GuedesPereiera (a Director of the Oxford Energy Institute and an Oil Company Executive), wrote an article for the Oxford Energy Journal tiled “Brazil and Uganda: Government Intervention and Oil Development Prospects.” http://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/OEF-90.pdf
- He is also a contributor to a book published by Globe Law and Business in London titled “Upstream Law and Regulation. A Global Guide”. He is also a contributor to a book published by Globe Law and Business in London titled “African Upstream Oil and Gas”.
- Elison was invited to contribute an article on the World Bank online forum regarding on energy governance (GOXI) on Transparency in the Extractives Industry. The link is here; http://goxi.org/profiles/blogs/transparency-is-only-part-of-the-story
- He has written two articles for a South Sudan Newspaper “The New Nation” reviewing the new Petroleum Act of South Sudan and the North-South Sudan Agreement on oil and other related economic matters.
