Three Kenyan lawyers were suspended from practice after a determination of professional misconduct the latest move by the Judiciary’s ongoing crusade to clean up the legal community.
The suspensions were made in a notice in the Kenya Gazette of October 9. All the lawyers underwent disciplinary proceedings before the Advocates Disciplinary Tribunal, which convicted them and suspended them for different periods of time.
Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Winfridah Mokaya confirmed the ruling, noting that it followed formal orders that had been made in each of the cases.
Following suspension, an attorney cannot represent clients, plead in court, or perform any legal requirement in Kenya unless otherwise instructed by the Registrar.
This disciplinary measure is a strong indication that attorneys, as well as everyone else in a position of public trust, are not exempt from the law.
While the Gazette notice did print the names of the offending attorneys, the exact details of their misdeeds were not revealed routine but controversial practice some in the profession do not think is transparent enough.
The move is only a few years after an identical clampdown. In 2023, nine advocates were struck off the Roll of Advocates outright a much more severe penalty for impropriety.
That decision was ratified by then Chief Registrar Anne Amadi, on the recommendations of the same Disciplinary Tribunal.
Though. While legal professionals are to be officers of the court and guardians of justice, cases such as these show that the system remains flawed but that at least someone is trying to police its own.
In the meantime, three suspended barristers will remain off the Roll, barred from practice, while the Judiciary demands more ethical behavior in the legal community.
