For thousands of Kenyan law students studying in and outside the country, completing a four-year law degree is not enough to qualify as an advocate of the High Court. The next compulsory step is joining at the Kenya School of Law (KSL) for the Advocates Training Programme, a one-year diploma programme designed to bridge the gap between academic learning and legal practice.
While the intention behind KSL is noble, its execution appears to be outdated, ineffective, and progressively exclusionary. It is time Kenya reimagined its legal training model by doing away with the compulsory KSL requirement and introducing a standardised National Bar exam similar to the model used in professions like pharmacy, accountancy, and engineering.