Several new training programs for African lawyers are launching in 2026, and a few may be worth considering for Somali legal professionals looking to develop expertise in specialized areas. The programs vary in format, duration, and focus, but they share a common feature: they are designed for working lawyers who cannot take months away from practice to pursue additional education.

The African Lawyers Alliance has announced a 2026 Fellowship Programme that runs from March to October, lasting between six and nine months depending on the track you choose. The fellowship is open to lawyers with two to seven years of experience, which makes it suitable for those who have moved past the initial learning phase of practice but are not yet so senior that time away would be impractical. Applications close on January 25, 2026, so interested lawyers should review the requirements soon. The program offers one-on-one mentorship paired with executive coaching and specialized legal training. This is the kind of structured professional development that many lawyers wish they had access to but rarely find. Mentorship relationships can accelerate career development in ways that formal education alone cannot, particularly for lawyers in jurisdictions where the senior bar is small or where practice specializations are still emerging.

Online Options

South Africa’s LSSA Distance PVT School offers a fully online program running from January to July 2026 that removes geography as a barrier entirely. For Somali lawyers who cannot travel to other countries for training, whether due to cost, visa issues, or practice obligations, online programs represent a practical alternative that simply did not exist a decade ago. The quality of online legal education has improved substantially, and many programs now offer interactive components that go beyond recorded lectures and reading assignments.

Several of these programs have partnered with established online learning platforms like Coursera and edX, which allows lawyers to build credentials gradually rather than committing to a single intensive program. This modular approach works well for practitioners who need to fit continuing education around client demands and court schedules. You can complete one course in arbitration, another in energy law, and a third in anti-corruption compliance, building specialized knowledge over time without disrupting your practice entirely.

Focus Areas

The programs emphasize areas that are growing across Africa: arbitration, energy law, technology law, and anti-corruption practice. These are not arbitrary choices. They reflect where the legal work is expanding and where many lawyers feel underprepared. As Somalia develops regulations in these areas, lawyers with training and credentials will be better positioned to advise clients, whether those clients are government agencies developing new rules, international organizations implementing programs, or businesses trying to operate in an evolving legal environment. The immediate benefit of these programs is the training itself; the longer-term benefit is having ideas about how continuing education can work in Somalia as our own institutions develop further.