Background Information

Beatrice Mtetwa holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) Degree from the University of Botswana and Swaziland attained in 1980. She worked as a prosecutor in Swaziland initially and in Zimbabwe from 1981. She then went into private practice in February 1989 when she joined the firm of Kantor and Immerman. In 2006 she founded the firm of Mtetwa and Nyambirai together with a long-time colleague, Tawanda Nyambirai.

Beatrice has sat on and continues to sit on the Boards of various charitable organizations. She is a past President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe. Her work in protecting freedom of the press has seen her being appointed to the Boards of the Zimbabwe Independent and Standard Newspapers, the Mail and Guardian Media Group as well as various other telecommunications and energy corporations.

An avid human rights and constitutional litigation lawyer, Beatrice has won various international awards in recognition of her defence of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. These include the 2003 Liberty / Justice and Law Society Human Rights Lawyer of the Year Award, the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists International Press Freedom 2005 Award, the 2006 London based index on Censorship Press Freedom Award in the Law Category, the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the 2009 Sydney and Felicia Kentridge Award by the General Council of the Bar of South Africa.

She is also a recipient of the International Human Rights Award 2010, the highly esteemed Inamori Ethics Award by the Case Western University 2011 and she was honoured by the Law Society of Zimbabwe with the 2011 Defender of Human Rights and Rule of Law Award. She received the coveted Ludovic- Trarieux International Human Rights Prize, an achievement which she shares with Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who with her, are the only Africans ever to receive the award.

Most recently, Beatrice has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by St Francis Xavier University in Canada. She is also the current Board Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

As Senior Partner, Beatrice has a wide practice that covers major aspects of substantive law and litigation. Her particular areas of interests are Family Law, Human Rights and Constitutional Litigation Law, Property Rights Law and Corporate and Commercial Consultancy and Criminal Litigation.