Curriculum Vitae

ISABELLA AGENBACH

(mediator)

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

SCOPE OF EXPERIENCE:

1. Drafting of commercial agreements and registration of close corporations and companies.
2. Family law, Matrimonial Property and Divorce Law;
• International and Constitutional Law;
• Family law, Matrimonial Property and Divorce Law;
• Labour Law;
• Criminal Law;
• Customary Law;
• Administrative Law;
• Mining Law;
• Commercial and Corporate Law.
3. Preparing and arguing applications for Road Transportation permits, liquor and gambling house licences, aircraft licences, fishing quotas.
4. Assessor in several murder trials in the erstwhile Supreme Court prior to Independence.
5. Arbitration in several sport arbitrations whilst vice-president of the Namibian Gymnastic Union.
6. Lecturing shortly after independence, to:
• SWAPO Women’s League on Divorce and Matrimonial Law;
• Association of Credit Controllers on Credit Agreements;
• Transnamib employees on the Law of Contract;
• DTA Womans League on Divorce and Matrimonial property law;
• Various organisations on Constitutional and International Law and Human rights;
7. Justice Training Centre shortly after its inception on Family and Constitutional law.
8. Participated in talk shows on Matrimonial property and divorce law on NBC Radio.
9. Assisted various political parties in drafting proposals and comments on legislation pertaining to land ownership, family and customary law.
10. Moderator of National School Examination on the Constitution of Namibia.
11. Completing “UN-sub-commission on Human Right’s Questionnaire on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minority Rights in South Africa and Namibia on request of Mr Aschborn Eide (UN rapporteur – UN Centre for Human Rights in Geneva in September 1992.
12. Compiled, drafted and submitted papers on:
• Ethnic Groups and Cultures in Namibia;
• Cultural Expressions for Democracy;
• Cultural and/or educational institutions in Namibia,

at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, Austria in July 1993.

13. Participating in the European Parliament’s Study Commission on Democracy in Africa headed by Dr R Piquer in Strassburg.
14. Visited and conducted research on Constitutional and International Law at:
• Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA
• Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA
• George Town University Law School, Washington DC, USA
• UN Centre for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland
• European Parliament, Strassbourg
• Institute for Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London
• Institute for Democracy, Fribourgh Switzerland
15. Represented clients and liased with lawyers and academics in:
• Washington DC, New York, Atlanta, London, Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Geneva, Zurich, Amsterdam, Strassbourg, Nice, Fribourgh, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Luanda, Lubango, and South Africa.
16. Drafter of the commentary and draft rules on request of the Honourable Judge President Damaseb J P on family disputes-2010/2011, which proposals was incorporated in the amended Rules of the High Court in 2012.
17. Trained mediator- FAMAC- (Association of Family Law Mediators of the Cape)- 2011
18. Chairperson of Guidelines Committee of the Law Society of Namibia- 2011
19. Part of the reform task team appointed by the Hon Judge President Damaseb JP on the implementation of an e-judiciary system-2012

Sports

Qualified Aerobics Instructor – ETA Association of Exercise Teachers

SPECIFIC FIELDS OF INTEREST:

Family law as this area of the law is very different from other civil conflicts as it is a unique component of the law where, in contrast to most civil action, there is a significantly ongoing relationship to parties to divorce and other related family law proceedings and there is a considerable potential for further litigation if not properly managed. It is also an area of the law where people, who will otherwise have no significant contact with the legal system, end up in a legal dispute and litigation, involving vulnerable and dependant minor children.

Divorce and related litigation therefore requires an element of therapeutic jurisprudence that sees the law and economic force with the ability to produce both therapeutic and non-therapeutic results to individual matters.

Properly managed family law maters can be resolved in a sensible and cost-effective manner with an improved change that the ongoing relationship between the parties will survive the dispute which can only be conducive to the best interests of the minor children involved being served

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

References available on request