PROFILE
Hon. Mr. Justice Chipola James Bako was appointed Judge of the High Court on 27th May 2026. Prior to his current appointment, he served as Deputy Chief State Advocate at the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) from 2022.
Justice Bako holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Zambia and a Post Graduate Diploma in Legislative Drafting from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE). He was admitted to the Bar on 18th July 2008.
Justice Bako joined the Ministry of Justice in 2006 as a Learner Legal Practitioner, where he practiced across various departmental units. He was appointed State Advocate within the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, serving from 2008 to 2010. He rose through the ranks, serving as Acting Senior State Advocate from 2010 to 2011 and Senior State Advocate from 2011 to 2013. He was later appointed Deputy Chief State Advocate at the National Prosecution Authority, serving in Central Province from 2014 to 2017, Copperbelt Province from 2018 to 2021, and Lusaka Province from 2022 to 2026, a position he held until his appointment to the Bench.
His professional credentials include certificates in Digital Forensic Evidence for Judges and Prosecutors from the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) Gaborone, Asset Forfeiture Law from United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network for Southern Africa (ARINSA), Judicial Administration from the Royal Institute of Public Administration (RIPA) International London, and Law and Justice from the Danish Institute of Human Rights. He has also earned certifications in confronting macro-critical corruption from the IMF-Africa Training Institute and in leading positive culture transformation from the Chandler Institute of Governance.
Justice Bako has undertaken ad hoc judicial and committee roles, including serving as a Member under the Local Government Elections Tribunal in Lavushimanda District in September 2021. At a national level, he sat on the Cabinet-appointed Technical Committee to review the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code from 2016 to 2022 and contributed to the Technical Working Groups for the National Policy on Anti-Corruption and the National Legal Aid Policy. He also served as the NPA National Focal Point Person for the GIZ EnACT Access to Justice Programme and was Zambia’s contact person to ARINSA from 2013 to 2015.
Justice Bako has also served as a part-time Law Lecturer at the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) from 2007 to 2009, and as a part-time Law Tutor for the University of Zambia Extension Studies Directorate from 2006 to 2007.