BY PRAVIN BOWRY

On sale now!  Maize meal, eggs and bread...and legal advice, all available at supermarkets and retail outlets. Come one, come all!

The above is the likely legal situation and advertisement of times to come!

Strange as it may appear, supermarkets and traders are likely, at least in the UK, to offer legal services under new laws.

And unheard and unprecedented, non-lawyers will be able to invest in and own legal firms practicing law as partners or as shareholders in limited liability companies.

All these developments are taking place in far off England, Wales and Scotland.  Admit it or not – Kenyan lawyers and lawmakers are slaves of the English legal developments and a lot of what goes on in England in legal circles filters into Kenya, sometimes through legal precedents or by legislation, though we are sometimes a decade or so behind them.

Unprecedented

Take the matter of advertising by lawyers. For centuries it was a taboo to advertise. Then in 1986 solicitors and barristers were allowed to advertise by the Law society of England and Wales.

And in 2011 our own courts through a decision of Justice D.S. Majanja allowed advertisements in the ground breaking precedent in the case of Okenyo Omwanja George vs. The Attorney General and two others.

Now back to the English Legal Services Act of 2007 which is commonly referred as “Tesco law”- named after the English supermarket.

The association with this multinational chain of supermarkets is ironically not because it intends to offer legal services but because law firms will undergo a revolutionary change in how they are owned and invested in later this year.

At the core of this statutory revolution in legal practice is an aspiration to improve competition for legal services and to give the consumers more choice at a competitive price. How better to do so than by bringing in external investment, lower the prices and increase accessibility of legal services?

One-stop shop legal services in areas such as wills, conveyancing, personal injury and employment claims are at the focal point of the conversion of law firms into Alternative Business Structures.

In Kenya, these services are part of everyday life but the common mwananchi lacks awareness and for those who are aware of them the issue of high expenses hinders them from attaining these services. If precedent prevails and “Tesco law” finds an equivalent in “Nakumatt law” the common mwananchi will have increased affordable access to these services and increased awareness.

In retrospect, if Kenyans made wills, family land disputes that plague the country would be easily resolved in black and white rather than contributing to the congestion in our judicial system.

The implementation of “Tesco Law” has been criticised for the potential of undermining the quality of legal advice. ABS will have the profit drive of commercial owners and apart from reducing quality of service it will reduce the independence of legal advice.  

Conveyance

The fear this brings along is that consumers will get legal advice from non-legal professionals especially in fields such as conveyancing and employment law where professional advice is required.

Banks too are already queuing to provide legal services in as much as most banks are presently providing trustee and probate services even in Kenya.

In England, the government feels that the new Legal Services Act will offer more choice and better value for the public and the exorbitant fee structure of the law firms will be tamed.

The changes, it is thought, will encourage economic growth; the services become more accessible and more efficient.

Under the ABS, lawyers will be able to work in mixed practices offering financial, legal and other advice and about 10,000 law firms will be affected in England.

The insurance industry is equally concerned as the lawyers mandatory professional negligence portfolio will inevitably result in rethinking.

Clients will be able to negotiate fees making a mockery of the minimum charges provided by law in legal remuneration structures and the practice of undercutting, which is a criminal offence in Kenya, will come under examination.

The new system has successfully been tried and tested in two states in Australia. The impact of the English jump to change the whole legal profession is likely to vibrate all over the commonwealth.

New concept

Sooner or later Kenyans will join the bandwagon and our law makers, the Law Reform Commission, and the Attorney General may wish to consider the new concept of providing legal services when in our country it is estimated that there is one lawyer to every 5000 Kenyans!

With proliferation of learning institutes giving law degrees all over the country, the legal profession in Kenya will be impacted with all the changes in common law countries.

The changing legal scenario has already forced large and small firms to rethink their strategies in marketing, business, development, and structure which will benefit the consumer of the services and make getting legal services user friendly.

A prophesy- one day Kenyans will follow suit.

The writer is a lawyer.

bowryp@hotmail.com