As the Uganda Law Society (ULS) prepares for its upcoming leadership elections, Senior Counsel Robert Rutaro is one of the lawyers positioning himself for a place on the professional body’s next leadership team, with his sights set on the Secretary’s position.
Rutaro enters the race with a career that has moved through several of the spaces that define his public profile today, from legal practice, academia, student leadership, politics to litigation.
The former Makerere University Guild President is currently the Senior Partner at Elgon Advocates, a law firm he co-founded with colleagues in 2021. He is also a university lecturer and has remained active in politically sensitive litigation, including election petitions arising from the 2026 general elections.
His profile has, over the years, been shaped as much by his work outside the courtroom as by his legal practice.
Rutaro holds a Master’s Degree in Law specializing in Oil and Gas from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, a Bachelor of Laws degree from Makerere University, a Diploma in Legal Practice and a Diploma in Law, both from the Law Development Centre.
After his enrolment as an advocate in 2019, he briefly worked with Magna Advocates and Musangala Advocates & Solicitors before going into private practice with colleagues. In 2021, they established Elgon Advocates, where Rutaro now serves as Senior Partner.
Alongside private practice, he has maintained a strong connection to legal education.
Rutaro has taught law at Uganda Christian University (UCU), Kampala International University (KIU), Cavendish University, UTAMU University and the Institute of Petroleum Studies in Kampala.
The combination of practice and teaching has kept him engaged with both the profession and the institutions training its next generation.
But even before building that professional profile, Rutaro had already tasted leadership.
At Makerere University, he served as Guild President and also led the Makerere Law Society, placing him in the middle of student representation and wider debates about leadership and governance.
That experience would later be followed by a stint inside Uganda’s ruling political establishment.
Rutaro worked at the NRM Secretariat as Director for Youth Mobilization, giving him an opportunity to work from within the structures of the party he would later openly challenge on several issues.
His time at the Secretariat, however, ended amid disagreements with the party leadership. Rutaro confronted then NRM Secretary General Kasule Lumumba over concerns about party finances and the welfare of staff. His outspoken approach eventually cost him his position.
His disagreements with the establishment became even more pronounced during the debate over constitutional amendments concerning presidential tenure.
Rutaro opposed the removal of the presidential age limit, and his activism against the change resulted in his arrest and detention at Wandegeya Police Station.
He was subsequently released without charge following the intervention of then Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gen Kale Kayihura, whom Rutaro had a personal relationship with.
He later encountered President Yoweri Museveni during a private visit in Mukono, where the two discussed Rutaro’s opposition to the President and his political activities. That meeting became their last known encounter.
His political ambitions have also taken Rutaro beyond criticism of government policy. At one point, he declared his intention to challenge Museveni for the NRM chairmanship, arguing that the President had lost direction in leading the country.
He has also twice contested for Parliament in Bukoto South, Lwengo District, his home area.
Those political experiences have made Rutaro a familiar figure beyond the legal profession, although his current campaign is firmly rooted in the affairs of Uganda’s lawyers.
His recent involvement in the Uganda Law Society’s internal disputes has added another layer to his profile ahead of the leadership elections.
As rival sides became involved in court battles, Rutaro initiated a private mediation process seeking to bring the parties together and find an amicable settlement to the disputes.
Rather than limit the initiative to his own intervention, he approached a group of senior and respected figures in the legal fraternity to participate in the mediation.
The team includes former Chief Justice Bart Katureebe (RIP), former Principal Judge James Ogoola, retired Justice Remmy Kasule, Senior Counsel Francis Gimara, Prof Fredrick Ssempebwa and Counsel Namugenyi. The mediation remains ongoing and its final report is yet to be released.
The initiative has put Rutaro in an interesting position as the ULS heads towards elections. He is not approaching the contest only as a candidate seeking office, but as a lawyer who has already become involved in one of the professional body’s major internal challenges.
At the same time, he has continued with his ordinary work as an advocate.
Rutaro is currently representing NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi’s elder brother Fred Nyanzi Ssentamu (popularly known as Chairman Nyanzi) in the election petition challenging NRM’s Madina Nsereko Ntale’s election in Kawempe South.
He is also representing independent candidate Jet Tumwebaze in another election petition against NRM’s Sodo Aine Kaguta, who is a younger brother to President Museveni. The cases have kept him active at a time when election disputes have become an important part of Uganda’s legal landscape, particularly following the 2026 general elections.
For Rutaro, therefore, the ULS leadership contest comes after a career that has rarely been confined to one lane.
He has moved from student leadership at Makerere to political mobilization within the NRM, from private legal practice to university teaching, and from parliamentary contests to election litigation. More recently, he has stepped into the difficult territory of professional mediation within the ULS itself.
His supporters can point to that wealth of experience as part of the case for his candidacy, while his opponents will ultimately have the opportunity to judge the same record through their own lenses.
For lawyers weighing the candidates in the race, Rutaro’s record presents a combination of courtroom experience, academic exposure, institutional leadership, political engagement and mediation, a breadth of experience that could prove particularly relevant to a Secretary expected to understand both the professional demands of ULS and the competing interests within it. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
