How advocates prey on already vulnerable clients

A lawyer with papers and a briefcase. [Courtesy/GettyImages]

When we arrived at the reception of the Advocates Complaints Commission at Cooperative Bank House on Haile Selassie Avenue in Nairobi, we found Rose Nyambura making a call.

Her phone, placed on the reception chair was in loud mode as she shuffled through a pile of papers, some tattered.

She appeared disturbed with tears rolling down her cheeks as other visitors and staff in the opposite cubicles passed by unbothered.

This is a daily occurrence here, at the offices where Kenyans who are swindled millions of shillings by rogue lawyers visit to lodge complaints.

During her visit, Nyambura was advised on how to pursue a case against a lawyer who allegedly stole her money. Her case originated from an accident involving a vehicle and a motorcycle in Kitengela, Kajiado County.

The case was active in court, but for more than a decade she has never received a penny. She accuses the advocate of using her accident documents to make a claim but never paid her.

“I was involved in accident in 2008 and since then, I have never been paid a coin. It has been a long, tiresome journey,” the mother of four opened up while fighting to control her tears

When the accident occurred, Nyambura was rushing to meet someone for a business deal.

“I was knocked down by a pickup from behind while on a motor cycle. I was thrown in the air before landing on the ground, I regained consciousness in hospital in the town,” she recounted.

Nyambura said afterwards, she was transferred to Kenyatta National hospital (KNH) where she underwent several corrective surgeries.

Seventeen years later, the scars on her body are still visible, an injury on the left hand appeared to have been severe. After surgery she lost strong grip making her struggle when holding heavy items, including her pile of court papers.

“I stayed in hospital for about four months, I left the wheelchair and later on started using crutches while recovering,” she narrated. 

She added: “Around that time, my husband introduced me to a man I was informed was working for a law firm. The man took all my original hospital documents with a promise that he will handle my case.”

Nyambura said for several months, no one contacted her regarding the case forcing her to report the matter to police. The man who had taken her documents was arrested.

“When he was arrested, police found a forged document claiming that I had agreed to be paid Sh40,000 by the person who was behind the wheels when the accident occurred,” said Nyambura.

Tired of being taken in circles, Nyambura reported the matter to the Advocates Complaints commission but to date the matter has not been resolved.

Another victim, Elizabeth Mumbua was involved in an accident on Thika Road sometime in 2017.

It has been almost eight years now and Mumbua claims she is yet to receive the Sh1 million that she was awarded by an insurance company through an advocate.

She says her efforts to trace the lawyer have come to naught and her frequent visits to a law firm in Nairobi have not yielded any fruit. 

Mumbua was run over by a van near GSU headquarters and narrowly escaped death. The mother of two recalls: “I was waiting for the road to clear before crossing when the car lost control and hit me.”

She was taken to Aga Khan Hospital with a fractured right leg, injured forehead, back and other injuries. The advocate followed up the matter to seek compensation.

The court directed that she be paid Sh1 million and after receiving the money, Mumbua claims the lawyer vanished and would insult her whenever she visited his office.

“I am optimistic that justice will be served or the advocate will be arrested one day to feel the pain I have undergone,” she says.

These are among many cases the Advocates Complaints Commission has been handling as complaints against rogue lawyers keep rising. 

According to the Commission, there have been 288 complaints since July 2025.

In July, the Commission received 127 complaints, 100 cases in August and by mid-September 61 complaints. By the end of the last Financial Year, Sh101 million had been recovered.

Dominic Ombati, from Nyamira County is another victim of crooked lawyers. Ombati was awarded more than Sh422,000 as compensation in a case he filed against Gianchore Tea Factory in Nyamira.

Ombati had filed a case after he suffered eye injury at the factory where he was operating the boiler.

“I was working at Gianchore Tea Factory. I was affected by chemicals in the boiler area. The chemicals affected my eyes. I filed a case and I won against the tea factory,” he narrated.

Since 2018 when the case was completed and court ruled in his favour, Ombati has been living a life of misery, pain and poverty.

“I had hired a lawyer by the name Samuel Nyachae to represent me in that case. I won the case and was awarded Sh422,306 by the court but the lawyer did not remit any money to me,” he claimed.

He later filed a complaint at the Advocates Complaints Commission to push the lawyer to remit the money but even that did not help.

“I received a call from the commission in November 2024 to inform me that the case had been completed and that I would receive a letter from the Law Society of Kenya to collect my money from there but that has never happened,” Ombati complained.

His cousin, Oscar Ongwae, shared the frustrating trips to the lawyer’s office to demand for the money only to be chased away.

“The lawyer would insult him calling him a mad man, accused him of abusing bhang. He would say that he did not recognise him and eventually he barred him from going to his office. He threatened to call police on him if he kept going back to the office.”

“This man has really suffered. We have been to the complaints commission but he has never got justice. The case is still pending at LSK,” he added.

Ombati stated that they received copies of cheques from the insurance company as evidence that that money had been remitted to the lawyer. 

“I have sold almost everything.  I have sold land and trees. I cannot feed my family and my children have been sent home due to lack of school fees. I am blind,” he laments.

Ombati is appealing to the to LSK and the Chief Justice to help him get justice.

"I wonder why he cannot be arrested even when there is evidence that he swindled me,” he noted. 

George Nyakundi, the secretary to the Advocate’s Complaints Commission says their role involves evaluating the complaints lodged to determine whether they're substantial.

This allows them do further inquiry or investigation to determine whether it is basically a professional misconduct issue.

“And then if it's professional misconduct and we find the problem is not so aggravated, we try to solve the dispute through other methods, basically mediation or negotiation, which are other authentic methods between the advocate and the client,” he explained

If the matter is serious, it is referred to the committee or tribunal, a body under the law that is empowered to sanction an advocate for misconduct.

“If the tribunal agrees with us, then it may sanction the advocate. And some of the actions taken can be to disbar the advocate, so, they don't victimise other Kenyans. Or they may suspend the advocate for a period. The period can range from six to five years,” explained Nyakundi.

In some instances, the advocates are warned or ordered to pay fines or refund and pay back whatever they are withholding on behalf of their aggrieved clients. 

Some of the common complaints are withholding of client money, issuance of bouncing cheques and failing to update clients about the progress of the cases that they are handling.

However, Nyakundi expressed concern that some clients fail to understand and push the advocates to pay even in circumstances the advocate has done nothing wrong.

“He got judgment, but he can't get money for you from either the person, the defendant, or the insurance company. In such a case, we try to sit down with the complainant and explain to them the situation so that they can understand,” he states.