Joan Chesoni

Joan is a Public-Sector Lawyer from Kenya, specializing in Aviation, Space and Government Transactions Law Practice. Joan has practised as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya for Thirteen (13) years, beginning her career in private practice where she focused in the areas of Commercial and Intellectual Property Law.

Since 2010, Joan has been a State Counsel at the Office of the Attorney-General & Department of Justice in Kenya. As a State Counsel, Joan has gained extensive experience in Litigation, Arbitration and International Law practice, while representing the Government of Kenya both on a domestic and international level. Joan has served as a Parliamentary Legal Assistant to the Attorney-General and alternate Director to the Attorney-General on various statutory bodies and committees including the Sport Stadia Management Board, the Kenya Space Agency Board (2017 – to Date) and the Public Private Partnership Committee. She was also the representative of the Attorney-General to the 59th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. From 2012, Joan has been part of the multisector Government and Industry team negotiating Air Services Agreements on behalf of the Republic of Kenya. In 2014, she was the Kenya Head of Delegation to the Montreal Diplomatic Conference to Consider Amending the Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, 1963 (Tokyo Convention). From June 2017 - March 2019, Joan was on secondment assignment at Kenya Airways PLC where she served as Senior Legal Counsel and the Head of Public Affairs and Investor Relations. From November 2019, Joan has been on a secondment assignment at the Public Private Partnerships Directorate, National Treasury. Leveraging on experience in Public Private Partnerships, Joan is researching on possible platforms for the engagement of private sector capital in building the Space Economy in Kenya. Joan is an Advanced LLM alumna of the Leiden University International Institute of Air and Space Law, and her thesis was titled “Evolutions in Aviation Security: Recognition and Protection of the In-flight Security Officers in International Air Law.” Joan has also attended and graduated from the prestigious Space Studies Program of the International Space University, having been part of the Team Project “International Cooperation on the Use of the Chinese Space Station.” In December 2022, Joan was selected to be a United Nations “Space4Women Network Mentor” for the year 2023. As from January 2023, Joan is the first African Global Alumni Representative on the Board of Trustees of the International Space University.