African Woman and Child Feature Service - Legal Education in Kenya in Crisis

Written by Prof. Patricia Kameri-MboteWednesday, 05 January 2011 00:00

As Kenya is in the process of implementing the new constitution and also in the history of majoreconomies, there is need to assess legal education against national needs.

The situation Kenya is at the moment is similar to the point at which Justice Rosalie Wahl ofthe Minnesota Supreme Court and Chair of the American Bar Association Section of LegalEducation asked of the United States’ system; “ Have we really tried in law school to determinewhat skills, what quality of mind are required of lawyers? Are we adequately educating studentsthrough the content and methodology of our present law school curriculums to performeffectively as lawyers after graduation?”

If ever there was a time that these questions should be asked in Kenya, it is now. We have anew Constitution to implement; we are seeking to be a middle income economy by the year2030; and we are very aware that the rule of law is critical in moving forward from where we areto where we want to be.

The organs of implementing the Constitution, Parliament and the Executive are all awash withlawyers. The new Constitution proposes radical ways to reform the judiciary to make it aneffective guardian of the rule of law. Are we preparing lawyers to effectively perform these andother emerging tasks after graduation?

Currently, Kenya has six law programmes, four in public universities and another two in privateuniversities. There are close to seven others going through the Commission for HigherEducation approval processes and many more being hatched in public and private universities.

Of all these programmes, only one has a graduate programme with the rest providingundergraduate studies. In the forty years when legal education has been provided in Kenya,only three people have earned doctoral degrees in law from a Kenyan university. In the entirecountry, we have three professors of law and less than ten associate professors. Not all theseprofessors are engaged in law teaching.

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African Woman and Child Feature Service - Legal Education in Kenya in Crisis

Written by Prof. Patricia Kameri-MboteWednesday, 05 January 2011 00:00

This is against a backdrop of very high demand for legal education. Indeed some lawclassrooms have as many as 200 students taking one course. Large student numbers are not inthemselves a problem because even in Ivy League institutions, there are large law classes.

But in the Ivy League Universities, the classes are divided into smaller groups for effectiveinstruction. This is not a possibility in our case because we do not have enough law teachers.

Many of those who teach law do it alongside vibrant legal practices or other full timeengagements. This would not be problematic if there was a critical mass of passionate lawteachers in universities engaged in research, supervising and mentoring upcoming law teachersalongside teaching and thus growing the legal academy.

Unfortunately, many teachers of law do plenty of teaching and minimal research. Few arequalified to supervise masters’ and doctoral students. Little wonder then that there are noprofessors of law and what we have is a body of adjunct law teachers who, because of thestringent requirements for promotion, are unable to move beyond the lower cadres of theacademy. Indeed most students graduate from law school having never been taught by aprofessor.

A first degree in law, like that in medicine, is a course that one should study in the countrywhere they hope to practice. Yet many parents, including law teachers and actors in the Kenyanlaw and justice sector, send their children to study law abroad because of their lack ofconfidence in legal education in Kenya. This is a financial drain on both the individual parentand the country but many see it as enhancing the chances of getting employment in anincreasingly competitive market.

While there are more job opportunities for lawyers, it is not unusual to find unemployed orunder-employed law graduates. For many of these students taking law studies is a strategicchoice to ensure that they can fend for themselves and be financially independent.

That they should go through law school successfully but not be able to engage may be anindictment of our system. Does the system equip law students to serve the Kenyan society? We

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African Woman and Child Feature Service - Legal Education in Kenya in Crisis

Written by Prof. Patricia Kameri-MboteWednesday, 05 January 2011 00:00

need to evaluate our assumptions about the roles and methods of law schools and explore newways of conceptualizing and delivering learner centred legal education that is relevant toKenyans at this stage of our development.

This calls for investment in higher education generally and legal education particularly byproviding resources necessary to deliver quality instruction. Most importantly, universitiesshould create conducive environments for legal academics to stay in the university and not belured by competing engagements outside to make ends meet. They should also provide spacefor legal researchers in law schools to attract research funds so as to grow legal scholarshipand the academy in Kenya.

The writer is a Law Professor and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya

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