After a 15-year legal battle, a Nairobi man has lost his bid to claim a share of his late grandfather’s property from his uncle. The Court of Appeal upheld a High Court decision, granting full ownership of the disputed land to his uncle.

• The land in dispute is Dagoretti/Uthiru/38, originally belonging to James Magua Ngando who died in 1963.
• The appellant, Kenneth Kaburu Kimani, sought to overturn a 2019 ruling by Justice Lydia Achode.
• The court dismissed claims of his father, Leonard James Kimani, suffering from amnesia when signing consent in 2009 due to lack of medical evidence.
• The judges noted Mugwe Magua, the uncle, had been in “exclusive and undisturbed occupation” of the property since 1969.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the mandatory Law Society of Kenya (LSK) membership for all advocates, dismissing an appeal challenging the Advocates Act. This ruling reaffirms the constitutional legitimacy of requiring LSK registration to practice law in Kenya.

• The Court of Appeal delivered its ruling on Friday, 25 July.
• The appeal was based on the claim that mandatory membership violated Article 36 of the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of association.
• The High Court had previously dismissed the same petition in March 2019.
• The ruling supports LSK's ongoing crackdown on individuals unlawfully practicing law, with five individuals recently arrested in Bungoma County for operating unauthorized law firms for 13 years.

The prestigious Senior Counsel designation in Kenya, an equivalent to Queen's Counsel, representing the highest professional honour for advocates, is currently facing significant challenges due to an inactive selection committee and a controversial proposed bill.

• The Committee on Senior Counsel, a ten-member body responsible for vetting candidates, has become "moribund" as the Senior Counsel Bar failed to nominate its three representatives whose two-year terms expired on July 23, 2024.
• Lawyer Francis Njoroge has filed a case against Dr. Fred Ojiambo, chair of the Senior Counsel Bar, for failing to convene a meeting to nominate the missing representatives, with the case now assigned to Justice Roseline Aburili for a mention on September 23, 2025.
• The Advocates Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, proposes shifting the power of conferment directly to the President, which the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) argues would politicize the rank and compromise the independence of the legal profession; the LSK has initiated a High Court case, with the next hearing set for July 30, 2025.