The sky has no limit for legal eagle Allison

Sensitive, resilient and reflective. These are the three words 31-year-old Allison Geduld uses to describe herself.

Allison is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law on the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU). She presents the Jurisprudence and Ethics modules, and the main part of her job involves teaching and research.

She has various qualifications to her name. Allison obtained an LLB degree in 2011, a BAHons in 2013 and an LLM in 2015, and recently completed her LLD degree, which she deems her biggest achievement yet.

Another huge achievement for her was when the Von Humboldt Foundation sponsored her for three months of research at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Germany, and she was selected to complete the final year of her LLB degree at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

“I am very grateful to all the lecturers who were part of my journey as a student at the NWU,” she says. “They inspired me and instilled the belief that I would succeed one day.”

When asked about her most significant memory during her time as a student, she mentions that she was part of the Amnesty International student chapter and still has the poster that she got from the Amnesty International magazine. “This poster is special to me, as it reminds me of everything I stand for,” she explains.

She sees herself pursuing an academic career in five years’ time, and with her personal mantra being “one day at a time”, there is no doubt that she will achieve this goal.

She also attributes her success to the support she receives from her family and friends.

“At the end of the day you have to do things yourself, but having someone in your corner who makes you believe that you have a reason to exist and that you matter, is invaluable.”