Dr Priscilla Schwartz is the Principal Consultant and Legal Counsel at SCHWARTZ ADVISORY LIMITED, a company of legal, business and development advisors, consultants and solicitors, providing services to public institutions and private entities engaged in public-private partnership projects, mining ventures and development activities in Sierra Leone.

Priscilla has over 25 years of invaluable experience as a practicing lawyer, adept in providing legal and strategic advice on public and private sector matters and over 16 years of academic practice and scholarship across diverse fields of law. Her legal practice and scholarship together reflect a distinguished career nationally and internationally, promoting a ‘just’ and sustainable development of the world’s poor. 

Priscilla was the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice (AGMJ) of the Republic of Sierra Leone from June 2018 to July 2020, the first female to hold this office in the country. She deputised H.E President Julius Maada Bio as Chair of the Legal and Governance Cabinet Sub-Committee. She also supervised several Commissions and Boards within the justice sector and Chaired several governance related Committees.

She provided global leadership in the campaign for ‘access to justice for all’. As Co-chair of the Task Force on Justice, she robustly canvassed the people-centered approach to justice delivery, especially SDG 16 on ‘access to justice for all’. Together with Task Force partners, she coordinated the production of the “Justice for All” Report, which is the global reference for ‘access to justice’ solutions worldwide. 

Priscilla chaired the g7+ Conference on Access to Justice for Conflict-affected Countries at The Hague, in 2019. Under her leadership, Justice Ministers of the g7+ countries for the first time, made commitments on promoting ‘access to justice’ and adopted the Action Plan, which was subsequently launched at the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July 2019. She also participated in the formulation of the 2019 ‘Hague Ministerial Declaration on Access to Justice’.

Priscilla transformed the justice sector in Sierra Leone by making its focus more people-centred. She established the Directorate for Access to Justice (DfAJ) to provide the technical lead in justice policy formulation and coordination and to ensure the effective implementation of the government’s commitments on access to justice in collaboration with non-governmental partners.

 She hosted a historic conference on justice in Sierra Leone, which brought together several Ministers of Justice, partners and stakeholders to deliberate on accelerating the delivery of SDG 16. Under her leadership and direction, Sierra Leone was able to submit its Voluntary National Review on the implementation of SDG 16 on promoting access to justice at the HLPF in 2019. 

For the first-time in Sierra Leone, Priscilla took steps to highlight the plight of customary communities that are disadvantaged by the formal justice institutions. She commissioned studies on the restatement of customary law and the justice needs survey of vulnerable and marginalised communities. She undertook a comprehensive review of the Justice of the Peace (JP) institution to make them more accountable, representative and especially empowering of women from customary communities. She organised a side event at the UN General Assembly in 2018, which pooled expertise and experience in business, law, development and human rights communities, to identify ways to leverage rights-based approach to business and development in Sierra Leone. The recommendations influenced the setting up of the Investment Board, chaired by H.E the President.

Her collective effort has influenced the design of justice policies to ensure more efficient and cost effective use of informal justice systems alongside formal justice institutions to deal with the justice needs of the poor. She was able to attract funding to implement various projects to restructure the justice delivery system to improve lives.

Priscilla believes that innovation and technology are key drivers for the design of effective justice policies and service delivery. She translated this conviction in establishing the Justice Innovation Centre, to collect and coordinate the collection of data on the justice needs and experiences of the citizens and make justice services more accessible countrywide.

Her dedication and commitment to promoting ‘access to Justice for all’ globally and nationally, has made her the attraction for speaking engagements worldwide to raise awareness on the justice-deprived poor and the marginalized in societies. In August 2019, she was named among The Avance Media inaugural list of 100 Most Influential African Women.

Priscilla’s stance on corruption and her determination to bring back accountability in governance was unrivalled in the role of Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in Sierra Leone. She set up and supervised three independent Commissions of Inquiry, to investigate cases of corruption and financial malpractices in government between 2007 and 2017. From this process, based on the findings of the Commissioners’ Reports, she recovered for the State millions of dollars in both assets and monies.

From 1996 to 2006, Priscilla was State Counsel and Special Assistant to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, at the Law Officers’ Department. It was in these roles that she developed enviable lawyering skills in government policy formulation, strategic planning, and implementation of laws, agreements and programmes of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

She worked with global institutions including the World Bank, the IMF, and the UN, on intricate international negotiations and policy studies including on the rule of law and anti-corruption. She conducted the first anti-corruption prosecution that convicted a Court of Appeal Judge in Sierra Leone. 

And her drive for the development of the rule of law led her to present an unorthodox impassioned plea in 2001 that persuaded the President of the World Bank to reinstate the legal sector project loan commitments which faced stiff competition for closure in favour of the disarmament and reconstruction loan recovery programme.

Priscilla was key in setting up the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, including co-ordinating the Security Council visit to Sierra Leone, negotiating and drafting of the statutes and agreements, and their implementation.

Immediately prior to her appointment as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Priscilla Schwartz worked as a legal academic between 2006 and 2018. She was the Director of the Energy and Natural Resources Law (Masters) Programme at the College of Professional Services, Royal Docks School of Business and Law, United Kingdom (2012-2018). She has lectured at the University of Leicester, UK, (2007-2012), Queen Mary, University of London, UK (2008-2011), School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK (2011-2013).

Dr Schwartz possesses multidisciplinary legal expertise in the areas of trade, investment, energy, finance, natural resources, business, environment and sustainability regulation, which she has applied to develop, deliver and examine courses at several institutions, and in research and knowledge exchange activities worldwide.

She has made distinctive contributions to the advancement of legal knowledge in the stated fields of law, through authorship of high quality and widely cited refereed publications, where she offers critical perspectives on the role of law and policy in growth oriented development especially in Africa. Notable examples of her publications include: Energy Resources Financing (2018); Capitalism, International Investment Law and the Development Conundrum (2014); Public Private Partnerships and Government Services in Least Developed Countries (2013); Trade and Development Partnerships (2010); Sustainable Energy Infrastructure: Law and Policy (2009) and Sustainable Development and Mining in Sierra Leone (2006).

Dr Schwartz has applied subject expertise in ‘Sustainability Law’ and developed e-learning courses on the Right to Development (Rtd) and the SDGs. The courses cater for representatives from Governments, the UN system, NGOs, civil society, and academia, to enhance knowledge on the implementation of the SDGs. She was the Regional Project Representative for Europe to the UNOHCHR/Rtd and SDGs meetings in Geneva.

She has also developed several targeted innovative graduate curricula, including in Energy (LLM), and Oil and Gas (MSc), and International Law and Development (LLM). The courses focus on investment and sustainable resource exploitation in Africa and the Middle East. The courses were designed to enhance capacity of minorities in the energy and extractive sectors and have continued to successfully produce graduates from several resource rich African countries.

She has demonstrated academic leadership through founding and coordinating a vast international network of legal scholars. She is the Co-founder and was Chair of the African International Economic Law Network (AIELN) (2009-2015), hosted at the Wits University, Mandela Institute, Johannesburg, South Africa. AIELN is an organisation promoting legal knowledge on economic issues in Africa.

Dr Schwartz has earned international and domestic recognition in her field of expertise evidenced by regular invitations to participate in collaborative research projects, organise and speak at international conferences and other media outlets (e.g. the “BREXIT and UK Trade with Africa”, BBC Radio London, 2016). She sits on editorial boards and peer reviews submissions for legal monographs and text books.

Teaching excellence and mentoring skills earned her positive peer and student reviews including the “Law Society Lecturer of the Year Award 2012” (University of Leicester); and the Students Union “My Academic” in 2014 and 2016 (University of East London).

She managed programmes and projects, including for Masters (LLM), doctoral studies (PhD), accreditation bids, research networks etc; in roles as Senior Lecturer, Programme Leader, Director, Co-ordinator and Chair, severally. She has supervised over 150 people, including students, academics, support staff, research communities and partners.