Success without a family is meaningless

Agnes Murgor 49, is one of Kenya’s leading international corporate and commercial lawyers and a senior partner at Murgor & Murgor and has in the past been described as amongst Kenya’s top lawyers. She spoke to Njoki Chege

Agnes Murgor

The small stature and tiny frame belie the achievements and capability of one Agnes Murgor, an accomplished lawyer, mentor, mother and wife. During the lengthy interview, the personality and true character of Agnes emerged. What lay beneath the charming exterior was an extremely focused, and ambitious professional at the top of a challenging, and competitive profession.

Agnes is the second born of the Late Justice Mathew Guy Muli and Evonne Muli. It would be serious gaffe to simply dismiss her achievements as being attributed to a privileged upbringing, good fortune or luck.

Agnes revealed that in the early stages of her life, she drew inspiration from her late father’s struggle to the top.

“My father came from humble and Christian beginnings where sheer hard work and commitment were virtues dearly upheld in the family,” she says.

Agnes recalls with nostalgia the emphasis her parents lay on education and godliness.

Says she: “Both were task masters when it came to their children’s education. They taught us to be God-fearing and take education seriously.”

The discipline in the Muli family paid off with Agnes ending up at Alliance Girls High School, for both her ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels.

The next stage of her life was shaped by the rigours of Alliance in the 1970s and 1980s, with the legendary Mrs Joan Waithaka the then headmistress.

“Life at Alliance was not easy. While it may have compared to any other national school in the country, academically, it was bruising in its quest to produce top students nationally. Alliance was hard on students who were not prepared to sacrifice, and as such, was avoided by those more interested in the social aspects and amenities provided by other national schools,” she says.  

Career Path

Agnes went on to study Law in her father’s footsteps. She graduated with honours’ in 1986 from the University of Buckingham in the UK and joined the Kenya School of Law the following year. She did her pupillage at Hamilton Harrison and Mathews, one of the country’s most reputable firms, which thereafter employed her.