“When a stone is put in your way, you can view it either as an obstacle – or as a stepping stone.” This well-known phrase was quoted in one of the opening speeches at the Joint Conference of the Protestant Academy Loccum and the African Law Association in Rehburg-Loccum, Germany, on 30 November 2007. It set the tone for a three-day conference on African law which explored the “Administration of Justice in Africa – Effectiveness, Acceptance and Assistance” in many facets, focusing on different countries and various approaches ranging from women's rights to development cooperation. The African Law Association (Gesellschaft für afrikanisches Recht e.V.), founded in 1973, aims at promoting and furthering the knowledge of the African legal systems. In keeping with the African Law Association's focus on different aspects of law in Africa – not only legal aspects, but also points of view from politics, history, development cooperation and ethnology – the conference participants came from various backgrounds: professors and lecturers from Germany and various African states were present as well as other members of the African Law Association and undergraduate and PhD students from several universities. A large student group, of which the author was a member, came from the University of Würzburg, their interest in African law awakened by a series of lectures in their home university and a cooperation project of the Faculty of Law of the University of Würzburg, the Namibian Ministry of Justice and the Legal Assistance Centre in Windhoek, Namibia.