The Court of Appeal has firmly upheld the requirement that all Kenyan advocates must be members of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to practice law dealing a blow to a long-running challenge against the regulation.
In a ruling delivered on Friday, July 25, the court rejected an appeal filed by a lawyer who had argued that being forced to join the LSK infringed on their constitutional right to freedom of association, as protected under Article 36 of the Constitution.
This is not the first time the issue has been raised. Back in March 2019, the High Court dismissed the same petition, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the Advocates Act the law mandating LSK membership violated any rights under the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Despite that decision, the advocate proceeded to the Court of Appeal, hoping for a different outcome. That hope has now been extinguished.
In its judgment, the appellate court agreed with the earlier High Court findings, stating, “The learned judge of the High Court held that the petitioners had failed to demonstrate the constitutional invalidity of the impugned provisions or how they violated any of the rights of the Bill [of Rights]. We accordingly find no merit in the instant appeal… The appeal is therefore dismissed with no order as to cost, given its public interest nature.”
The decision reinforces the legal profession’s framework in Kenya, where LSK registration is seen as a cornerstone of maintaining ethical standards, competence, and accountability in legal practice. For clients, it also offers assurance that their legal counsel is professionally vetted and regulated.
The ruling comes at a time when the LSK is cracking down on imposters posing as legal practitioners without proper credentials or registration a campaign aimed at protecting the integrity of the legal system.
