The Attorney General, Hon. Dorcas Oduor, EGH, received two sets of draft Regulations aimed at strengthening Kenya’s legal education and professional training framework.
The draft Legal Education (Licensing and Quality Assurance) Regulations, 2026 and the Legal Education (Advocates Training Programme) Regulations, 2026 were presented by the Council of Legal Education in a significant step towards reforming the legal education sector.
The handover brought together key stakeholders in legal education and the legal profession, including the Solicitor General, Hon. Shadrack J. Mose, CBS; Prof. Collins Odote, Chairperson of the Council of Legal Education; Charles Kanjama, SC, President of the Law Society of Kenya; Mr. Isaac Kuloba, Director/Chief Executive Officer, Kenya School of Law; and Prof. Jack Mwimali, Secretary/CEO, Council of Legal Education.
Receiving the draft Regulations, the Attorney General described the occasion as an important moment in the continuing reform of legal education in Kenya.
The reforms follow concerns that have, over time, affected the legal education sector, including admission criteria, examination processes, financial sustainability and access to professional legal training. The Attorney General noted that these concerns directly affect law students who invest significant time, resources and personal sacrifice in pursuing a career in the legal profession.
“That uncertainty cannot be allowed to become a permanent feature of legal education in Kenya,” the Attorney General said, emphasising the need for a system where students who meet clearly prescribed standards can understand their next steps and the opportunities available to them.
The Legal Education (Advocates Training Programme) Regulations, 2026 seek to establish standards for institutions offering the Advocates Training Programme and provide a framework for accreditation and transition arrangements. The Regulations also give effect to the Court of Appeal decision in Stephen Nikita Otinga v Ministry of Education and 3 Others [2025] KECA 460 (KLR), which directed the Council of Legal Education to prescribe admission standards for the Advocates Training Programme and establish a framework for accreditation of other public and private providers.
On the other hand, the Legal Education (Licensing and Quality Assurance) Regulations, 2026 provide a framework for licensing and quality assurance of institutions offering legal education, while creating clearer pathways for progression from diploma-level training to degree programmes and ultimately to professional legal training.
The Attorney General stressed that expanding access to legal education must go hand in hand with maintaining the quality and integrity of the legal profession.
“We must therefore pursue both objectives together: access and quality; opportunity and standards; fairness to students and integrity of the profession,” she said.
She observed that the draft Regulations come at an important time for a sector that has experienced prolonged litigation and policy uncertainty, noting that the reforms should contribute to a more predictable and coherent legal education system.
The Attorney General further called for the development of a comprehensive National Legal Education Policy to provide a broader and coherent framework for the sector. The policy, she said, should address how lawyers are trained, quality assurance across institutions, fair and predictable pathways for students, financial barriers to professional training, and the contribution of legal education to access to justice and the rule of law.
She said the ultimate measure of success should be the experience of students navigating the legal education system.
“Our measure of success should ultimately not be the number of regulations we enact or institutions we license. It should be whether a young Kenyan who chooses to study law can enter that journey with clarity, fairness and confidence.”
The Office of the Attorney General will accord the draft Regulations the necessary priority as they proceed through the requisite processes of public participation, parliamentary consideration and approval, and gazettement in accordance with the Legal Education Act.
The Attorney General commended the Council of Legal Education, under the leadership of Prof. Collins Odote, for bringing the reform process to this important stage and reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to working with stakeholders to strengthen legal education in Kenya.
The reforms seek to move the sector from uncertainty to predictability, while expanding opportunities for students and safeguarding the standards, competence and ethical grounding required of Kenya’s legal profession.
