Towards a Fair Lawyers‘ Disciplinary System in Kenya.

Abstract

The motivation for doing this research paper stern from my long interaction with the lawyers disciplinary Tribunal in Kenya as one of the prosecutor from the office of Attorney General, department of Advocates‘ Complainants Commission. The main aim of study is to analyze the structural legal framework defects of the existing lawyers‘ disciplinary Tribunal in Kenya.The question investigated in this paper is whether the legal and institutional framework does mitigate the unethical practices in the legal profession in Kenya. The existing institutional legal structure has failed to regulate the legal profession. To accomplish this goal, the researcher used the existing literatures, Statutes, Journals both National and international relating to Lawyers Disciplinary process, case laws and questionnaires as means of collecting the required data. Questionnaires were dispatched to the Tribunal members, ACC staff, complainants and members of the public. The findings of this research paper indicated that there exist gaps in the existing laws that establishes the Lawyers Disciplinary Tribunal. The Advocates Act and the Law Society of Kenya Act have inherent weaknesses that has made the Lawyers Disciplinary Tribunal lack independence in its operations. The Tribunal is not allocated funds nor does it have offices of their own where it can independently operate from. The research paper suggests that there is need to embrace institutional reforms in order to change the existing structural legal framework which can make the Lawyers‘ Disciplinary Tribunal be a fair and independent institution free from any interference.