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. He 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 Masembe has also been consistently ranked as a Band 1 commercial lawyer by the 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 and is the current Board Chairman of NC Bank Limited and a Director in the Jubilee Insurance Company of Uganda Ltd.

Membership in Professional Societies

• Member, Uganda Law Society
• Member, East African Law Society
• Member, Honourable Society of Inner Temple, England

Professional Qualifications

• 1996: Advocate, High Court of Uganda
• 1994: Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Law Development Centre, Uganda
• 1992: Barrister-at-law, England & Wales
• 1991: Member, Honourable Society of Inner Temple, England
• 1990: LL.B (Hons), University of London, England

Career Summary

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

Awards and Accolades

• Masembe is consistently ranked as a leading lawyer in his field by Chambers Global.
• Chambers Global, 2017 recognises Masembe’s strength in litigation and states that "he is a thorough researcher" and "relentless in court."

Areas of Expertise

• Corporate and Commercial Law
• Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Top Matters

• Acting successfully for individual guarantors in a High Court Suit filed against them by Citibank Uganda Limited in which Citibank sought the recovery of a loan sum and interest on loan facilities which were proved to have been misapplied through a fraudulent conspiracy between a bank officer and a director of the borrowing company. The guarantors were successfully defended from liability of the total sum of about USD 9,400,000 which was the sum found to be due to Citibank by the borrowing Company as at the date of Judgment.
• Acting successfully for Crane Bank Limited in a Supreme Court Appeal seeking to set aside an award of US$ 1,530,000 in damages for fraud in the sale of mortgaged property made by the Court of Appeal. The Appeal was allowed with costs to the Bank in the Supreme Court and all the lower Courts.
• Acting successfully for Barclays Bank of Uganda Limited in an Appeal in the Court of Appeal seeking to overturn the decision of the High Court dismissing an Application to set aside a Consent Judgment where the Appellant had consented to repayment of a loan debt sum. The Court of Appeal dismissed the Appeal and confirmed that the Appellant was indebted to Barclays Bank of Uganda Limited in the sum of over USD 20,000,000 by the date of Judgment.
• Acting successfully for the Central Bank of Uganda in defending a suit against it for breach of copyright through the use of a monument based on the Plaintiff’s sculpture on the face of the Ug. Shs. 20,000/= note for which the Plaintiff sought general damages of Ug. Shs. 1,000,000,000/= for the Ug. Shs. 20,000/= note and this could have resulted in a potential liability in excess of Ug. Shs. 6,000,000,000/= in respect of the monuments appearing on other Ugandan currency notes.
• Acting successfully for Diageo Brand B.V. in a suit obtaining order against infringement and passing off of its Johnnie Walker Black Label brand.
• Acting successfully for Centenary Bank Ltd, East African Development Bank, Harveen Gadhoke, George Opiyo, Mukono Industries (U) Limited and Hussein Muhammed in defending a suit seeking special damages of Shs. 32,430,499,381/= for, among others, breach of loan facility contracts and fraud in sale of mortgaged property. The suit was dismissed with costs and an award of US$ 3,432,744 was made in favour of the Defendant Banks as the loan sum due.
• Acting successfully for Stanbic Bank of Uganda Limited in defending suit against it for breach of loan facility contracts seeking special damages of Ug. Shs. 50,874,971,450/=. The suit was dismissed with costs and a total award of Ug. Shs. 957,659,987/= plus interest was made in favour of the Bank.
• Acting successfully for a three (3) time Chief Justice of Uganda in a suit filed against the Red Pepper Publications Limited for defamation. The Plaintiff was granted damagesof up to Ug. Shs. 425,000,000/= being the largest sum awarded in a defamation suit by a Uganda Court
• Advising the Central Bank on the sale of assets and liabilities of a financial institution to another financial institution, which involved negotiating the sale agreement preparing the transactional documentation.
• Advising the Central Bank on the sale of shares of financial institution, which involved negotiating the sale agreement and preparing the transactional documentation.