Timothy Kanyerezi Masembe

Background

Masembe is the managing partner of the Firm and the head of the firm's Litigation Team. His practice focuses mainly on commercial litigation and arbitration, as well as corporate and commercial law.

He is a Barrister-at-law and a Member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, UK. Hr holds an LLB ( Hons.) degree and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1992. In addition he holds a Diploma in Legal Practice of the Law Development Centre in Uganda.

Masembe is one of the leading litigators in Uganda, and has appeared in many ground breaking cases involving banks. He was recently granted a special license to appear in the courts of Tanzania. Timothy has also been consisitently ranked as a Band 1 commercial lawyer by Chambers Global. He is an external lead counsel for the Bank of Uganda and has thus been at the centre of the reconstruction and improvement of Uganda's entire banking sector.

In addition, Masembe has served as a member of the Capital Markets Authority Board.

Membership in professional Societies

• Advocate, High court of Uganda
• Barrister-at-Law, England & Wales
• Member, Honourable Society of Inner Temple, England
• Member, Uganda Law Society
• Member, East African Law Society

Professional Qualifications

• Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Law Development Centre, Uganda
• LL.B (Hons), University of London, England

Career Summary

• 2005 to date  Partner, MMAKS Advocates
• 1993-2005    Advocate and Partner, Mugerwa & Masembe Advocates

Areas of expertise

• Corporate and Commercial Law
• Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Awards and Accolades

• Masembe is consistently ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global
• Chambers Global, 2013 recogonises Masembe's excellent reputation for his litigation prowess

Top matters

• Acting for the Bank of Uganda in a suit involving fraudulent acquisition and conveyance of securities encumbered by the plaintiffs to secure a debt recovery of USD20 million.
• Acting successfully for a Kenyan and Tanzanian company in connection with a complex arbitration dispute referred to the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) arising out of consortium agreement.
• Actiong for aggreko Uganda Limited ( a thermal power distributor) contesting a VAT assesment levied it by the Uganda Revenue Authority of Ug. Shs 145 billion equivalent to USD58 million . The mater was successfully defended by a judgment of the 12th Semptember 2012.
• Acting for Google Uganda Limited in a suit seeking a declaration to the effect that the exclusive supply of marketing and sales support services to Google Ireland Limited was an exported service and is as such zero-rated.
• Acting for Bank of Uganda and Standard Chartered Bank to recover USD34 million from guarantors of a company indebted to Standard Chartered under various facilities assigned to Bank of Uganda