How LSK plans to weed out fake lawyers

Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Eric Theuri. [Collins Kweyu, Standard] The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has launched a countrywide crackdown on rogue advocates. LSK President Eric Theuri told KTN News on Wednesday, May 17 that the move is aimed at arresting individuals who have been providing legal services as advocates and are not qualified to do so. "We have witnessed an increase in cases where persons not qualified to practice law have been setting up law firms and providing legal services as advocates. We had to initiate this crackdown so that we can arrest these criminals who are purporting to be advocates and lowering the standards of law in the country," said Theuri. According to the LSK President, the quacks are setting up their law firms in smaller towns where they can perform under the radar. Others are assuming or adopting the names of existing advocates and taking advantage of virtual courts. For an effective process, the society says it has set up an office that will continuously crack down on rogue advocates and is working with the police to have them brought to book. "We have set up a structure within the Law Society that is going to coordinate the crackdown process. If we do not follow up on these cases, what happens is these criminals go under the radar and resurface later," Theuri said. LSK has noted an increase in the number of complaints about rogue lawyers who take money from the public and later block them. To avoid that, Theuri urges members of the public to confirm the legality of their (lawyers) services through the Law Society of Kenya. "We require the public to visit the law society portal, indicate the name of the lawyer, and check if he or she is registered under LSK and if they are an active lawyer," he said. "If the lawyer is inactive, they should not practice law and they need to report to LSK." On Wednesday, LSK reported the arrests of four people suspected to be fake lawyers during a sting operation carried out by police and the society. The four were arrested in Nairobi's Kilimani area and within the city centre amid a nationwide operation to weed out masqueraders and quacks in the legal profession. The society said it will be opposing bail for their release, as having the suspects back into the public does not really solve the issue.

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