Strathmore University starts law school that is different from the norm

By VITALIS KIMUTAI
For years, the legal profession in Kenya has gained a dubious distinction over disgraceful conduct of a number of practitioners.

Many judges, magistrates and advocates have been linked to fraud, theft and ‘ambulance chasing’, among other vices bedevilling the profession.

A radical surgery in the Judiciary a few years ago failed to clear it of the rot. Presently, there is an ongoing process whose broom is expected to instil discipline in the profession.

In a bid to help restore integrity in the field right from the basic foundation, Strathmore University has started what is set to become a world class law school.

The Strathmore Law School (SLS) is expected to give a new face to the profession by inculcating integrity in its students from day one.

“We have an energetic and innovative faculty that aims at giving the best possible formation to the best East African law students, safeguarding and deeply understanding the role of values in the attainment of a just society, backed by a fair governance system,” said Dr Luis Franceschi, the school’s dean.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  Kivutha Kibwana: From lecture halls to politics and back to academia
• 
  Ruto demotes two Cabinet Secretaries, picks Uhuru men
• 
  Boost for trainees in GIZ-Strathmore backed digital skills training programme
• 
  Four-time world champion Lornah Kiplagat launches magical coaching App

Exciting panorama
He added: “The panorama for Kenya is exciting and we need a new generation of legal experts who will be up to standards and live up to the task ahead of them.”

The drive behind the SLS was to establish a law school that did not follow the obvious track that the oldest regional law schools had established in terms of curriculum and approach.

“We have a fairly robust curriculum that includes introduction to law, global law courses, foreign languages, ethics and critical thinking,” Franceschi stated.

In the course of training, the students will have an opportunity to travel abroad for exposure to respected international law schools such as Oxford, Princeton, Harvard and Stanford, among others.

They will also enjoy cooperation with prestigious law firms. Upon registration, each student will get a laptop, high-tech e-learning and e-boards.

The SLS is in the process of selecting the pioneer 60 ‘A’ students out of almost 300 applicants. The new class begins in July.
“We are aiming at the cream of tomorrow’s leadership to form them well and make them all-round persons. Many of them come from very poor areas and family backgrounds.”

The SLS chose to have small class sizes and high-tech tools to ensure that its objective of forming transformative lawyers is met.

At the school, there are 18 lecturers with 15 of them holding doctorate degrees in law while two others are completing their PhD studies soon.

Franceschi noted that though the country had more than 7,000 trained lawyers, less than 4,000 were practicing.

“What it means is that there is a ratio of 1:9,000 lawyers to clients which is way below the recommended 1:500 ratio,” he said.
Although SLS is a fully accredited law school, students will need to go to the Kenya School of Law upon completion of university studies to qualify as advocates.

SLS is accredited by the Council of Legal Education, which means it is compliant with the conditions of quality set by the council.

“SLS will not be an ivory tower; it will be a modern Areopagus, an open forum, making concrete and tangible contributions to the study of law in every field of our society. While the impact may be hard to measure, it will be felt,” concluded the pioneer dean of the law school.