The Law Society of Kenya- through its Compliance and Ethics Directorate participated in the Stakeholders’ Validation Forum held on May 30th –31st, 2023, at the Tamarind Tree Hotel, Nairobi, on ‘Development of a Regulatory Framework for the Accreditation of Paralegal Education and Licensing Guidelines’ hosted by Council of Legal Education and International Development Law Organization (IDLO).
The Stakeholders’ discussions were geared towards the creation of a regulatory framework for the accreditation of Paralegal Education in Kenya and the creation of a curriculum for paralegal education.
The Stakeholder’s discussions were spearheaded by Prof. Githu Muigai, EGH, SC – Chairman Council of Legal Education, Ms. Mary M. Mutugi, OGW- Secretary/CEO-CLE and the Representative from IDLO. They steered the discussions towards the creation of a curriculum for paralegal education amongst others.
Day one of the engagement forum saw Prof. Kulundu Bitonye, present on the understanding of paralegalisms, the definitional dilemma, the history of paralegalisms, the types of paralegals (Community-based versus Professional/Commercial paralegals), the regulatory framework governing paralegals and the need for standardization of paralegals in Kenya. Dr. Peter Nyaga did a presentation on mapping and the report on the current state of paralegals and organizations undertaking training thereof.
The second day was facilitated by Ms. Florence Shako who took the participants through the proposed curriculum – broken down into four modules of 24 courses in total.
The Plenary covered the stakeholders’ recommendations with LSK’s first recommendation being to have a separate curriculum for Community-based Paralegals from the Professional Paralegals since the proposed curriculum seems to favor the latter, that there be a clear demarcation on the institutions to train the two categories and that further the 24 courses being proposed be minimized for easy digest. Currently, the Society is preparing a Memorandum on the same and members will be invited to submit their comments in due course.
