Bali lawyer Lukas Banu elected general secretary of Advocates Asia

Badung — Dr. Lukas Banu, a Bali-based lawyer born in Singaraja, was named General Secretary of Advocates Asia for the 2026–2030 term on 20 September 2026, during the Advocates Asia Conference 2026 at The Trans Resort Bali. He will serve alongside Aldwin B. Salumbides of the Philippines, who was elected Chairman.

The vote took place at the group's General Assembly, part of a four-day conference held on 17–20 September and attended by about 70 lawyers and legal practitioners from several countries. The new board has ten members. The other eight come from Pakistan, Malaysia, Jordan, Australia, South Korea and India.

A career linking Bali and cross-border work

Banu was born in Singaraja on 30 March 1979, with family roots in South Central Timor (TTS), East Nusa Tenggara. He studied law at Udayana University in Bali and earned his doctorate there in March 2024 with cum laude honours. The dean of the university's law faculty said no doctoral candidate there had achieved that distinction in the previous five years, MediaKaltim reported.

His dissertation examined the legal politics of sustainable tourism in regulating tourist accommodation developed by foreign-investment companies, comparing Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. He told MediaKaltim that Bali remains Indonesia's tourism icon, but that the archipelago has many other places with the potential to become destinations. He cited Oetune Beach in TTS, which he said still lacks adequate road access and facilities.

Banu chairs the Institute of Justice (IOJ) Law Firm, which has offices in Bali and Mataram. Its website lists corporate and investment work, litigation and arbitration, and cross-border matters. His official profile at the Asia Pacific Children Fund (APCF) says the firm serves local and international clients and describes him as Legal Partner of the Brazilian Embassy for Indonesia.

In 2022 he received an award from the President of Brazil, delivered through Brazil's ambassador to Indonesia, for legal services to Brazilian nationals facing legal problems in the country, according to MediaKaltim.

Reclaiming the “officium nobile”

Addressing delegates, Banu presented what he calls a sustainable law firm. He began by acknowledging a common stereotype of lawyers: luxury, little accountability and arrogance. Against that he set the older idea of officium nobile, the noble profession, in which a lawyer guards justice, defends individual rights and protects the rule of law for society at large.

That duty is written into Indonesia's Advocates Law (Law No. 18 of 2003), whose Article 22 requires lawyers to give free legal aid to people who cannot afford it. Banu ties the idea to three pillars of sustainability, environmental, economic and social, and to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

From the courtroom to the countryside

According to his conference presentation, IOJ Law Firm has run a Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) programme with Gitgit village in Buleleng, north Bali, since 2007. It allows members of low-income families to work for six months at DMS Pro Growers in New Zealand. They use the income to buy land, build homes and start small businesses. The presentation says 450 families have taken part. Villagers also run a profit-sharing livestock-fattening venture and received a donated ambulance.

In Soe, South Central Timor, the programme provides healthy meals to 800 pupils at 13 schools, the presentation says. Other work includes a shelter home that mentors young people, motivational classes for students and scholarship agreements with schools for high-achieving pupils from low-income families.

On the pro bono side, his legal team represents victims of violence against women and children from police investigation to court verdict. He has worked with the Galilea Foundation on drug rehabilitation, run anti-sexual-harassment training for companies with large workforces and organised an annual volleyball tournament paired with a youth camp on drug awareness and legal literacy for secondary-school pupils.

Banu also sits on the board of APCF, which supports vulnerable children in India, the Philippines, Nepal, Myanmar and Indonesia. “Justice isn't just about laws, it's about giving every child the dignity they deserve,” he says in his official APCF board profile.

What else the conference discussed

Besides electing a new board, the conference covered professional ethics, legal education, religious freedom and the growing use of artificial intelligence in legal practice. Speakers said the technology can assist lawyers but still requires human verification and professional accountability.

Sources

• MediaKaltim — profile of Lukas Banu's cum laude doctorate (25 March 2024)
• Asia Pacific Children Fund (APCF) — board member profile
• SiaranBali.com — report on the new Advocates Asia board
• IOJ Law Firm — official firm website