How to Choose a Corporate Law Firm in Nairobi: Nine Questions to Ask

There is no shortage of lists ranking Nairobi law firms. There is a shortage of guidance on what actually distinguishes them, which is a different question and a more useful one.

We are a Nairobi firm writing about how to choose a Nairobi firm, so read this with that in mind. What follows is the assessment we would apply if we were instructing counsel ourselves.

What do rankings actually measure?

International directories rank firms on submissions the firms themselves prepare, supported by referee interviews the firms nominate. The process is not dishonest, but it measures visibility and the resource devoted to submissions alongside actual capability. A capable ten-partner firm that does not submit will not appear.

Rankings are therefore a starting point for a longlist, not a decision. What matters more is the fit between the firm's actual practice and your specific matter.

The nine questions

1. Who will actually do the work?

The most important question and the least frequently asked. Pitches are delivered by partners; work is frequently done by associates. That is not objectionable in itself — associates do good work and cost less — but you should know it, and you should know who supervises.

Ask for the names of the people on the file and the proportion of time each will spend. If the partner who pitched will spend 5% of the time on your matter, that is worth knowing before you instruct rather than after.

2. What comparable matters have you handled?

Not "do you do M&A" — every commercial firm says yes. Ask about transactions of similar size, in your sector, within the last two years. Confidentiality limits what can be named, but a firm with genuine experience can describe the shape of the work and the issues that arose without identifying clients.

3. How are fees structured, and what is not included?

Kenyan advocates' fees are partly governed by the Advocates Remuneration Order, which prescribes scales for conveyancing and certain litigation work. Outside those scales — most commercial advisory — fees are negotiable.

Ask specifically what a quoted figure covers and what is billed separately. Disbursements, filing fees, searches, courier, agents' fees and stamp duty are commonly extra and commonly not mentioned. A fee estimate that excludes half the cost is not an estimate.

4. What happens if the matter escalates?

Transactions become disputes. Advisory matters become regulatory investigations. Ask whether the firm has the capability to follow the matter into litigation or whether you will be referred out at exactly the point the stakes rise.

5. Who else do you act for in this sector?

Conflicts are the obvious concern, and any competent firm will run a conflict check. The subtler question is commercial: a firm that acts for your principal competitor may be conflict-free and still not the right choice for a strategically sensitive mandate.

6. How will you communicate, and how often?

The most common complaint about lawyers, in Kenya and everywhere, is silence. Agree the reporting rhythm at the outset — a fortnightly update, a note after each hearing, a running budget against estimate. A firm that resists committing to a reporting cadence is telling you something.

7. What is your view on the likely outcome?

A firm that promises victory is either inexperienced or selling. Litigation carries irreducible uncertainty and so do regulatory approvals. What you want is a reasoned assessment: the strong points, the weak points, the realistic range of outcomes, and what would change the analysis.

8. What would you advise if we were not paying you?

A deliberately awkward question, and the answers are revealing. Sometimes the right advice is to settle, to walk away, or to fix the commercial relationship rather than litigate it. A firm willing to say so is a firm worth instructing.

9. Are you insured, and for how much?

Advocates in Kenya are required to carry professional indemnity insurance. For a substantial mandate, the level of cover relative to the value at stake is a fair question and one that firms should answer without discomfort.

Large firm or small firm?

Neither is inherently better, and the choice should follow the matter.

Large firms carry depth across practice areas, capacity for document-heavy transactions, and the international referral relationships that matter on cross-border work. They cost more, and a small mandate at a large firm receives proportionate attention.

Boutique and mid-sized firms offer senior attention as a matter of course, lower rates, and often deeper specialisation in a narrower field. The constraint is capacity: a firm of six cannot staff a transaction requiring twenty lawyers for a fortnight.

Match the firm to the mandate rather than to the letterhead. A straightforward acquisition of a Kenyan target does not require a firm with offices in four countries. A multi-jurisdictional financing does.

How do you assess capability you cannot see?

A client cannot evaluate legal work the way they can evaluate a building. Four proxies are available and each tells you something different.

Regulatory standing

Every practising advocate in Kenya holds a current practising certificate from the Law Society of Kenya. This is verifiable and worth verifying for any firm you have not previously used. Disciplinary history is a matter of public record.

The quality of the first written advice

Ask for a short written view on a defined question before committing to a larger mandate. What you learn is not only the answer but how they think: whether they identify the issue you did not raise, whether they state the risks plainly, and whether the writing is clear enough to forward to a board.

How they handle bad news

A firm that tells you your position is weaker than you hoped, early and with reasons, is more valuable than one that agrees with you. Optimism is easy to sell and expensive to buy.

References from clients like you

Not the firm's showcase clients — clients with mandates of similar size and type. Ask specifically about responsiveness, whether the fee estimate held, and whether the partner stayed involved.

Working effectively with counsel once instructed

The difference between a good and a poor outcome is often the client's side of the relationship rather than the firm's.

Scope the instruction properly. Vague instructions produce broad work and large bills. A defined question with a defined deliverable produces a usable answer at a predictable cost.

Give complete facts, including the unhelpful ones. Advice built on a partial account is worth nothing, and the fact you withheld will surface at the worst moment — usually in the other side's disclosure.

Set a budget and ask for updates against it. A running total against estimate, provided monthly, prevents the conversation nobody wants at the end.

Decide who instructs. Where several people at the client can give instructions, the firm receives contradictory ones and bills for reconciling them. Nominate a single point of contact.

What should make you cautious?

Guaranteed outcomes. Nobody can guarantee a court result or a regulatory approval. A firm suggesting otherwise is either naive or worse.

Fee quotes that seem far below the market. Kenyan legal work has a cost floor. A quote well below it usually means the scope is narrower than you think, or the work will be done by someone junior and unsupervised.

Reluctance to put the engagement in writing. Scope, fees, billing frequency and the people involved should be recorded. A firm that resists this is not one you want handling your documentation.

No conflict check. A firm that accepts instructions without running one is not managing its own risk, which tells you how it will manage yours.

What a good engagement letter contains

Scope of work with defined boundaries. Fee basis, whether hourly, fixed or scale, with the rates of each person involved. What is excluded. Billing frequency. The reporting arrangement. The named supervising partner. How the retainer may be terminated by either side.

This is not bureaucracy. It is the document that resolves a disagreement about scope eight months later, and its absence is why those disagreements become disputes.

When should you change firms?

Clients tolerate poor service from lawyers far longer than from any other supplier, usually because changing mid-matter feels disruptive. Sometimes it is the right decision.

Consider it where communication has broken down and a request for a reporting rhythm has not fixed it; where fees have materially exceeded estimate without explanation; where the matter has been passed to progressively more junior people without discussion; or where you no longer trust the advice you are being given.

Changing is more straightforward than most clients assume. You are entitled to your file, subject to the firm's lien over it for unpaid fees — which is a good reason to settle the account before moving. The incoming firm handles the transfer, and where proceedings are on foot a notice of change of advocate is filed with the court.

The genuine cost is time. New counsel must read into the matter and you pay for that. It is worth it where the relationship has failed, and rarely worth it over a single disagreement.

How Kenyan firms are structured, and why it matters

Understanding the structure helps you read a pitch. Kenyan firms are typically partnerships or limited liability partnerships, with partners owning the firm and associates employed by it. The partner presenting to you usually has an economic interest in winning the mandate — not sinister, but worth knowing when weighing their assessment of your prospects.

Firms are regulated by the Law Society of Kenya and advocates must hold a current practising certificate. Client money must be held in a separate client account, distinct from the firm's own funds, and misuse of client funds is among the most serious disciplinary offences. Where you are paying a deposit or purchase money to be held, ask which account it will sit in and get the answer in writing.

Kenya does not permit contingency fee arrangements in the way some jurisdictions do, and the Advocates Remuneration Order prescribes minimum scales for conveyancing and certain litigation. A quote materially below the scale for that work should prompt a question about what has been left out, rather than gratitude.

The practical summary

Shortlist three firms from rankings, referrals and your own sector knowledge. Meet each. Ask the nine questions. Compare the answers rather than the brochures. Instruct in writing.

Our own corporate law and commercial law practices are built around the model implied by those questions: a senior advocate on every file, scope and fees agreed in writing, and a straight answer about prospects even when it is not the answer the client hoped for.