Beatrice Mtetwa is a Zimbabwe-based lawyer who graduated from the then University of Botswana and Swaziland with an LLB degree in 1981 and entered private practice in Harare in 1990. She is known for taking on high-profile human-rights cases involving activists who have challenged the Zimbabwean authorities, this resulting in her harassment by State agents – arrests, prosecution and physical assaults. She is also involved regionally in the defence of constitutionalism, the Rule of Law and human rights in general. Local and international awards too numerous to list have been heaped on her – these include honorary degrees from four universities.

She is a past president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, a founder member and past Chairperson of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, an Adjunct Professor at Carleton University Law School in Ottawa and an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn. She is the subject of a 2013 documentary, Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law.