LSK crackdown exposes 14 fake lawyers

About 14 individuals who have been masquerading as lawyers and illegally practising within Nakuru have been exposed and arrested, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), Nakuru Chapter has confirmed.

The chapter’s outgoing chair Wangari Mwangi said that they had raided several law firms,  registered and unregistered and with the help of detectives, arrested the masquerades and confiscated alleged forged documents.

The latest arrest was for Levin Omollo, who has allegedly been pretending to be a lawyer and had defrauded two people, at least Sh800,000.

Omollo, who is well known in court, was charged on Thursday before a Nakuru court, for impersonating a lawyer, a charge he denied.

He is said to have practiced at Gaplink International, a non-governmental organization, where the Chief Executive Officer Tom Mboya, denounced and reported him to LSK.

He allegedly pretended to legally represent two litigants who allegedly paid him Sh450,000 and Sh380,000.

Despite the LSK praying that he be denied bail, he was released on a surety bond of Sh300,000.

“Recently, another impersonator was sentenced to pay a fine after he was found guilty in court. It is the first step to ensure we protect our profession,” said Wangari.

Wangari said that the chapter leadership not only arrested the 14 alleged quacks but also closed unlicensed law firms and liaised with the prosecution to try them in court.

She said that their mandate after receiving a report is to write to the national office secretariat to verify that the reported person is not a lawyer.

“We did due diligence and also discovered that Omollo had allegedly forged a badge and his degree certificate, because he was not in the graduation list,”

Wangari urged the judiciary to assist in protecting litigants by denying the masquerades bond terms to ensure they do not go back to defrauding Kenyans once released.

The LSK has faced challenges because some of the masquerades are harboured by licensed lawyers who enable fraud.

“When we arrested Omollo, he claimed that he was working with licensed lawyers. We are pursuing his allegations.”

Lawyer Gordon Ogolla warned the lawyers harbouring the masquerades that they would pursue them and seek that their licence be cancelled.

“If we enable quacks, we will erode the public trust in lawyers. Sharing proceeds with an unqualified person is an offence and soon we are going to go beyond the quacks and come for the advocates who work for them,” said Ogolla.

He called on litigants to report individuals they suspect are quacks and to use Advocate search engine to verify before seeking legal services.

Last October, LSK shut down two law firms and caused the arrest of two people who were masquerading as lawyers within Nakuru.

The raid followed a complaint by a family in Nyandarua who lost at least Sh89,000 in a succession case.

Lawyer Steve Mbugua, the convener of the practice standard and ethics committee said that the quacks have been rampant in sale agreements for land and vehicles, among others.

He said that the society had cracked down in 40 counties and they were working on a taskforce for every region to expand the crackdown.