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Mwaura Kabata Pledges Paperless LSK as Havi Endorses him for VPOLSK

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LSK General Council Member Mwaura Kabata who is running for LSK Vice President 2024-2026

Law Society of Kenya Current General Council Member and LSK Vice President Candidate 2024-2026 Mwaura Kabata has committed to take LSK Paperless by ensuring the forthcoming LSK Council commissions an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that will help LSK in service delivery and ensure seemless access to the various member services offered by the Society. This came as Mwaura Kabata’s LSK Vice Presidency candidature continued to receive endorsements from many quarters the latest being from 49th Law Society of Kenya President, the current Chair of Retirement Benefits Authority and the active General of Brave New Bar Nelson Havi, Senior Advocate who tweeted:

“I have served with this gentleman, Kabata Mwaura in weighty assignments. A gifted speaker who is meticulously organized in thought and articulation, a man of the People, he gets done what must be done with no hesitation. He fits the bill for Vice President of LSK.

Below is an excerpt of Mwaura Kabata’s pledge to deliver Paperless LSK:

My Esteemed Colleagues,

We have all experienced this. From Missing CPD points, to a non-responsive portal leading to frustration and poor member services.

When we got into Council, we sought to understand why LSK members cannot enjoy superior service delivery befitting the premier status of the bar. We discovered that our Society still uses a system that was designed to serve a membership of less than 10,000. This is reflected both in our physical infrastucture as well as our tech systems.

I have made it part of my critical agenda items in the forthcoming Council to ensure that we commission an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that will help in service delivery and ensure seemless access to the various member services offered by the Society.

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Lawyers

George Kashindi: Top Statesperson in Commercial Law in 2024

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George Kashindi, Partner at Munyao, Muthama & Kashindi Advocates and Member, Tax Appeals Tribunal

Partner, Munyao Muthama & Kashindi Advocates (MMK) & Member, Tax Appeals Tribunal.

  • Co-Author of Kashindis’ Digest of Employment Cases (Flamekeepers Publishing, Nairobi, 2020).
  • LLM (UoN)
  • LLB (Hons) UoN
  • Dip. Law (KSL)
  • Admitted 2002

Practice Areas

  • Taxation and Revenue
  • Regulatory and Compliance
  • Advisory and dispute resolution
  • Compliance and Governance Audits
  • Public Procurement
  • Civil and Commercial Litigation
  • Arbitration
  • Energy and Natural Resources
  • Constitutional Law
  • Judicial Review
  • Employment and Labour Relations

Biography

George is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over 22 years of experience. He is a Partner of Munyao, Muthama & Kashindi Advocates (MMK Advocates) previously in charge of the Nairobi office (now on sabbatical) and Member of Tax Appeals Tribunal. George started his legal career in the well- known firm of Rachier and Amollo where he gained a wealth of experience in a broad spectrum of legal matters. Subsequent to leaving Rachier & Amollo, George trained at the Kenya Revenue Authority Training Institute for 2 years and thereafter worked at Kenya Revenue Authority as Senior Legal Counsel for 5 years. With this background, George has a very solid understanding of the tax policy and legislative framework and has many years’ experience in litigation, tax dispute resolution, tax investigations and prosecutions, interpretation of the tax statutes and advising on tax policy and legislation. He possesses a wealth of knowledge in dealings with senior revenue and treasury officials. He holds an LLM in Financial Services with a specialisation in tax and has acted in a number of jurisprudence setting tax matters.

George has extensive experience in regulatory and compliance advisory and litigation and has acted for a number of Kenya’s leading regulators including the Kenya Airports Authority, Communication Authority, Agriculture Food Authority, Energy Regulatory Commission, Kenya Forest Service, Engineers Board of Kenya, National Transport and Safety Authority, NGOs Coordination Board, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, National Hospital Insurance Fund to name but a few. He is well versed in regulatory law and practice, compliance and governance matters.

George has extensive experience in conducting legal, regulatory, compliance and governance audits and is respected in this field as a leading expert. He has conducted the audits on blue chip companies listed in the bourse, leading corporates, parastatals and other government entities among other clients. His previous and existing clients include Safaricom, Post Bank, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), National Hospital Insurance Fund, and Technical University of Mombasa among others. The highly rated Legal, Compliance and Governance Audit practice headed by George is accredited by the Law Society of Kenya.

George also advises clients on public procurement, NGOs and Charities law, employment and labour relations, energy and natural resources, immigration among others. He is also in charge of running training portfolio of the firm.

Educational and professional qualifications

  • Bachelor of Laws, University of Nairobi 2000
  • Diploma in Law, Kenya School of Law 2001
  • Admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, 2002
  • Masters Degree in law (Financial Services Law), University of Nairobi 2017

Membership in professional associations

  • Law Society of Kenya

Career history

  • Pupilage: Rachier & Company Advocates, 2000-2001
  • Management Trainee: Kenya Revenue Authority Training Institute, 2001-2002
  • Senior Legal Counsel: Kenya Revenue Authority, 2002-2007
  • Partner: Munyao, Muthama & Kashindi- 2009 to date

Work Highlights

Legal, governance, compliance, regulatory audits.

  • Team leader in conducting legal, compliance and regulatory audits which entail  It reviewed the client’s internal policies, practices and operations of the governing bodies and various departments to assess their compliance with the relevant laws including the Constitution, the establishing  and regulating statutes and subsidiary legislation. The previous and existing clients include Safaricom, Post Bank, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), National Hospital Insurance Fund, and Technical University of Mombasa, Kenya Literature Bureau, Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Post Office Savings Bank among others.
  • Team leader in reviewing the legal and policy frameworks to strengthen integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) in Kenya
  • Team leader of the corporate governance practice area and has been involved in reviewing clients’ corporate governance structures and giving advice on legal, compliance and governance requirements. He has offered tailor made presentations and training sessions to clients’ board members and senior executives on corporate governance and other applicable legal and compliance requirements.
  • Advised clients on risk assessment and implementation of risk mitigating measures relating but not limited to directors duties, anti-corruption/bribery, anti-money laundering among others.

Tax

  • Assisted a leading audit firm in challenging a tax assessment raised by KRA in excess ofKshs 600,000 million against an international NGO operating in the Kenya and the region. The case involved complex legal points relating to expatriate tax, installment tax, definition and meaning of residency and interpretation of a number of statutory provisions.
  • Acted for one of the largest Container Freight Terminals in Mombasa that had been shut down by the Commissioner of Customs Services after a huge assessment of tax. The case successfully challenged the Commissioner of Custom’s power to close the facility and addressed other complex customs legal issues.
  • Represented one of the largest private universities in successfully pursuing a waiver of tax penalties and interest resulting from an initial assessment of tax by KRA amounting to KShs. 70 million.
  • Represented a leading company operating in the horticultural sector in appealing a tax assessment of over Kshs 200 million.
  • Represented a leading Italian company headquartered in Rome Italy running a space research project in Malindi to successfully challenge enforcement action by KRA of freezing the company’s bank accounts. The case addressed developing jurisprudence of striking a proper balance between the enforcement powers of the tax man viv a vis the need to protect a tax payer from the risk of substantial hardship including total collapse due to enforcement action. The court was persuaded to set aside an earlier order for the client to furnish security of a substantial amount and granted an unconditional stay of enforcement action. The monetary exposure was over Kshs 160 million.
  • Represented a leading export trading company in challenging tax assessment in excess of Ksh 300 million and dealing with complex tax issues touching on various WTO rules including the non-discrimination principle, rules of origin, East African Common tariff classification, and an array of constitutional and administrative law issues.

Regulatory advisory and dispute resolution

  • Representing and advising an array of regulators of various sectors and public bodies on a wide range of issues and claims airing from their exercise of their regulatory and statutory mandates. Kenya Airports Authority, Communication Authority, Agriculture Food Authority, Energy Regulatory Commission, Kenya Forest Service, Engineers Board of Kenya, National Transport and Safety Authority, NGOs Coordination Board, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, National Hospital Insurance Fund to name but a few.

Energy

  • Represented a regulator in the energy sector against representative/class action public interest and consumer protection related claims made against the regulator and other players in the sector concerning several issues touching on electric power billing tariffs among other issues.  The value of some of the matters in contention is over Kshs 10 billion.
  • Representing a regulator in the energy sector against a representative/class action public interest and consumer protection related claims made against the regulator and other government agencies touching on key issues in the energy sector such as power generation, power purchase agreements, deemed energy, financing of power generation projects, Government guarantees, electricity transmission and an array of constitutional issues. The value of the matters under consideration is over Kshs 100 billion.
  • Team leader in conducting a legal and regulatory audit of a leading player in the energy sector. The audit included visiting critical their installations across the country, reviewing local and international contractual agreements, advising on Power Purchase Agreements, reviewing board and management operations, identifying and advising on legal risks.  
  • Acted for a Government entity operating in the energy sector in responding to compliance summons issued by a County Government relating to their installations within the county.
  • Acted for a company operating in the geothermal sector in defending a contractual claim of substantial amount of money relating to a multi-lateral donor- funded project for drilling and extraction of steam through the innovative well-head technology.

Public Procurement

  • Represented a leading Chinese firm which was a successful bidder in a multi-billion donor funded project for the Water and Sanitation Improvement project awarded by one of the public bodies operating in the water sector, in successfully opposing a challenge instituted by a losing bidder before the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board. The matter involved key procurement issues and jurisprudence touching on among other things, locus standi of applicants in a joint venture.
  • Representing the same Chinese firm in separate proceedings instituted by a different bidder but relating to the same award. Acted for the firm both before the Administrative Review Board and the High Court. The cases addressed notable public procurement matters including the Board’s jurisdiction in disputes emanating from donor funded projects and projects the subject to negotiated grants.
  • Represented a leading supplier and retailer of tyres and accessories before the Public Procurement and Appeals Review Board in dispute relating to a multi-million tender awarded by a public body in based in Mombasa and operating in the ports sector. The challenge succeeded before the Board but was subsequently overturned on appeal to the High Court.

Non-Governmental and Charities

  • Retained by several charitable, not for profit and religious organisations on an array of issues ranging from registration processes and documentation, regulatory compliance, tax advice, labour law matters, court representation and advice on contracting processes. Such NGOs include but not limited to Helpage, International Republican Institute, Food For the Hungry among others.

Employment and labour relations

  • Represented and advised an array of clients drawn from various sectors in a wide range of employment and labour related matters including representations in court, drafting of employee contracts, drafting and reviewing polices and manuals, advice on termination, dismissals,  redundancies and restructuring, managing employee-exists, advice on collective bargaining and negotiations, secondment, outsourcing among others.

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Josephine L.M. Righa: Hall of Fame Commercial Lawyer in 2024

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Josephine L.M. Righa is the Managing Partner of Josephine Righa Advocates.

Josephine L.M. Righa, the Managing Partner of Josephine Righa Advocates, has over 15 years of commercial and corporate law experience and was nominated as the Commercial Practitioner of the year 2023 at the Nairobi Legal Awards. She is listed in THE LAWYER AFRICA Commercial Lawyers Hall of Fame 2024 for her exemplary performance as a commercial lawyer acting for and representing top firms and businesses over the years. Previously, she was listed among the Top 100 Commercial Lawyers in Kenya in 2023.

Josephine has all round experience in commercial and corporate law gained from working as an in-house lawyer for a leading multinational, rising through the ranks from junior associate to the head of commercial and corporate law department of a leading law firm and founding her own commercial law boutique firm serving leading commercial clients and handling high value business transactions.

Josephine graduated in the year 2008 with a Bachelors of Laws Degree from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and commenced working as legal assistant for Coca-Cola Central East & West Africa Limited from the years 2009. In the year 2011, Ms. Righa pursued her Bar studies and now holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law from Kenya School of Law.

She did her pupillage with the firm of Igeria and Ngugi Advocates and was promoted to Associate position upon her admission to the Bar in the year 2012. In the year 2014, she was promoted as a Senior Associate and the head of the Corporate and Commercial Practice of the firm, a position she held until July 2019. She founded Josephine Righa Advocates, a leading commercial and corporate law boutique in Kenya, where she serves as the Principal and Managing Partner

In addition she is a notary public, commissioner for oaths, a registered Patent Agent of the Kenya Intellectual Property Institute and is currently pursuing a Certified Public Secretaries (CPS) certification. She is also certified professional trainer in Legal Audits and Compliance, Corporate Governance, Private Public Partnerships and Contract Management & Administration (specifically trained on Contract Negotiation, Contract Drafting and review, Changes and Variations in Contracts, Dispute Avoidance & Resolution and Contract Administration Overview).

Josephine is keen on corporate governance issues and having been professionally trained by the Centre for Corporate Governance (CCG) Kenya and the Institute of Directors (IOD), Kenya, she now is an Associate Member of IOD-Kenya. Further, she is a certified professional mediator having been professionally trained by Mediation Training Institute (I) East Africa to mediate disputes in a variety of spheres including but not limited to commercial, workplace, community and family disputes.

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Mwangi Kibicho: Top Statesperson in Commercial Law in 2024

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Mwangi Kibicho, Managing Partner of J.K. Kibocho & Co. Advocates and Top Commercial Lawyer in Kenya

Practice Areas:
Dispute Resolution, Commercial & Corporate Law.

Membership in professional societies:
Law Society of Kenya
East Africa Law Society

Email: mwangi@jkkibicho.co.ke

Credentials:
• MBA – Global Business Management (MBA – GBM), United States International University (USIU)
• Postgraduate Diploma in law, Kenya School of Law.
• Bachelor of Laws, LL.B (Hons), Moi University.

Mwangi Kibicho is a consummate and versatile advocate with a wealth of experience in legal matters. He demonstrates dynamism in his hands – on approach to the law. Having been in the legal practice since 2002, when he joined J.K. Kibicho & Advocates, he has risen through the ranks to the position of Managing Partner.

Work Experience

  • Advising a multinational corporation, which intended to invest in the lending pool in Kenya, on the legal aspects of off-shore lending and the legal procedures and structures on microfinance in Kenya.
  • Acting for a company in the transfer of 1,000 acres of its land in Naivasha to the Government of Kenya for the development of an industrial park being part of the Government’s targeted key elements of infrastructural growth.
  • Advising one of the first Drone Clubs in Kenya in registration of the drones, to engaging with several Kenya Civil Aviation officials for authorization and holding discussions on the proposed legal regulations of drones in Kenya.
  • Advising a client on the incorporation of its leading mortgage association in the country, engaging various stakeholders in the mortgage industry, and advising the client on the legal structures and impact of the same as well as making recommendations on the implementation of the association’s objectives.
  • Acting for a company in advising and preparing documentation for transfer of more than 10,000 acres of its land to its shareholders as non-cash dividends.
  • Acting for the leading management agency for small scale tea farmers in Kenya in their hydropower projects in various parts of the country, advising on project management analysis and review, engaging the involved stakeholders on the project execution, preparing and perfecting the necessary documentation.
  • Conducting high level research and advising a client in preparation of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Turkana County Government and a limited liability company incorporated in Kenya for exploration and development of the Barrier Volcanic Complex Geothermal in Turkana County, Katilia Ward.
  • Preparation, negotiation and registration of residential and commercial leases for various developments in the country.
  • Drafting and conducting high level negotiations of various contracts.
  • Attending to registration of trademarks for several large companies and individuals.
  • Advise and facilitating one of our major clients seeking to establish a Public Private Partnership on the government’s Affordable Housing Programme (AHP).
  • Conducting research and opinion writing to clients on various legal matters.
  • Setting up both internal and external legal and practice trainings as well as presentations.
  • Participating in the Commercial Practice Committee under the LSK, Nairobi Branch which seeks to set up proper practice standards related to Commercial law in Kenya and championing for harmonisation of the laws related to the same.
  • Participating in the Lands Registry Liaison Committee under the LSK, Nairobi Branch which seeks to identify and resolve the issues in the lands registries.

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