Chief Justice Martha Koome has urged Kenya’s legal sector to embark on bold and coordinated reforms to modernise legal training, warning that the rapidly shifting global landscape demands a new kind of legal professional.
Speaking on Tuesday during the Council of Legal Education’s inaugural conference on the future of legal education and training in Kenya and the region, the CJ said the justice system can no longer rely on traditional teaching models at a time when technology, globalisation, regional integration, and new forms of transnational crime are reshaping how justice is delivered.
Koome noted that the country’s ongoing transition toward people-centred justice places a heavy responsibility on the institutions that train and regulate legal practitioners.
She stressed that the ability of courts and legal institutions to serve the public effectively will depend on whether upcoming advocates, judicial officers, and judges are equipped with the competence, ethics, technological literacy, and global mindset demanded by the modern justice ecosystem.
“The journey begins in the classroom,” the CJ said, emphasising that law schools must prepare graduates for a justice system that is more complex and interconnected than ever before.
Koome called on all key players regulators, universities, the Bar, the Judiciary, and justice-sector industry partners to work together to strengthen quality assurance mechanisms, overhaul outdated curricula, and infuse training with digital skills, ethical grounding, and hands-on experience.
She said the next generation of legal professionals must be ready for a broadening field of practice that extends well beyond traditional courtrooms.
“Our future lawyers must be prepared not only for traditional courtroom practice but also for the expanding opportunities created by mediation, arbitration, Alternative Justice Systems, Small Claims Courts, and regionally integrated commercial and justice spaces,” she noted.
The CJ also issued a pointed warning to the legal fraternity, cautioning against gatekeeping attitudes that make access to the profession unnecessarily difficult for young entrants.
She said those who passed through the system should not “pull the ladder up behind them,” but instead ensure that legal education remains rigorous and credible without morphing into exclusion.
According to Koome, safeguarding quality is not an act of exclusion but a commitment to securing the future of justice by guaranteeing that graduates enter the profession with real competence, ethical grounding, and the ability to serve society with excellence.
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