New legal technology platform seeks to cut cost, delays in Kenya's legal sector

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A new digital initiative is seeking to make legal services easier to access by helping businesses and individuals find lawyers, compare their needs and manage legal work through technology.

The initiative also aims to help law firms reduce the time they spend on routine tasks such as finding case law, handling client requests, preparing contracts and managing compliance work.

Its developers say the approach could help address long-standing problems in Kenya's legal sector, where clients often depend on personal referrals to find lawyers and may struggle to know the likely cost or time required for a legal service.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face particular challenges because the cost of obtaining legal advice can discourage them from seeking help when they need it.

The initiative is being developed by Kesi, a Kenyan legal technology platform that has so far onboarded about 50 law firms and independent legal practitioners.

Kesi provides a platform where businesses and individuals can seek legal services while giving law firms digital tools to manage client intake, contracts and compliance processes.

The platform is also developing artificial intelligence tools to help lawyers conduct legal research by finding relevant case law, precedent and other legal information.

The technology could allow lawyers to complete research faster, potentially reducing costs for clients and speeding up work involving contracts, compliance reviews and disputes.

Kesi founder Antony Mwathi said the company wants to speed up how legal teams work while making legal information easier for the public to understand.

"We believe we can empower legal teams to get more done at the speed of today, as we open up to multiple jurisdictions — and at the same time, help the public understand the law a little better than they did yesterday," said Mwathi.

The initiative comes as businesses across East Africa increasingly use digital platforms to reduce delays and costs in areas that have traditionally relied on manual processes.

Legal services remain one of the sectors where much of the interaction between clients and professionals still depends on personal networks, manual research and traditional office processes.

Kesi is seeking to build a digital layer around those services, with plans to expand into multiple jurisdictions as it grows.

For businesses, the shift could mean quicker access to legal assistance, while law firms could gain tools to handle more work without relying solely on manual processes.