Caroline Mtai is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and an independent consultant specializing in child justice, gender justice, and criminal justice reform. She previously served for seven years as the Kenyan Legal Advisor to the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (USDOJ/OPDAT) at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, where she provided legal advisory on prosecution-led criminal justice reform initiatives.
Mtai began her legal career at Kenya’s Office of the Attorney General and Department of Justice as a Litigation Counsel in the Civil Litigation Department and later in the Land and Environment Division. In 2014, she joined the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and served for four years as Head of Prosecutions at the Milimani Children’s Court, the largest exclusive children’s court in Kenya.
During her tenure, the Milimani Children’s Court became the first magistrate’s court in Kenya to implement plea agreements for the resolution of cases involving children, advancing efficiency and child-sensitive justice practices. For over 10 years after her service at ODPP, Mtai’s work continued to focus on effective and efficient investigation, prosecution and adjudication of criminal cases with a focus on alternatives to trial and prosecution to reduce over-reliance on the trial process. She led the implementation of over 20 judicial service weeks prioritizing quick resolution of Sexual and Gender Based Violence cases involving children. She believes that an overburdened justice system is incapable of responding to the needs of the most vulnerable justice seekers.
Mtai applied her expertise as a member of numerous technical working groups that developed the ODPP Plea Bargaining Rules, The Plea-Bargaining Guidelines and Explanatory Notes, the Diversion Policy and Guidelines, the Child Prosecution Guidelines. Between 2017 and 2022, Ms. Mtai co-facilitated high-level stakeholder engagements in Ethiopia and Ghana on implementing plea agreements as a speedy case resolution mechanism. In 2022, Ghana passed her plea-bargaining laws inspired by the Kenyan criminal procedure laws. These achievements buttressed Ms. Mtai’s standing as a legal strategist capable of contextualising reform within diverse legal systems.
Following her departure from USDOJ/OPDAT in September 2025 after US funding restructuring, Mtai relentlessly continued her efforts re-focusing herself as an independent consultant in child justice, gender justice and criminal justice reform. Without missing a beat, she continued her work in the criminal justice sector focusing on emerging justice challenges for women, girls and other vulnerable groups. Within this period, Mtai, as a Consultant for the Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), delivered extensive training for justice actors and community-based organizations on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) addressing growing concerns over gender biases and inequality replicated across digital platforms. Her work in this area strengthened justice sector understanding of online harms and aimed to improve institutional responses to cyber-enabled offences against women and girls.
Mtai is passionate about promoting alternatives to institutionalization for children and improving education standards for children in institutional care. Driven by this passion, she founded the Operation Jaza Shelf Book Club Project in 2016 to raise awareness on the need to provide equal access to free and compulsory education to children in rehabilitation schools. Through this project, Ms. Mtai collaborated with over 100 professionals to mentor girls at a Nairobi rehabilitation school for girls, donate thousands of books and renovate the school library.
Throughout her career, Mtai has combined technical legal excellence with a deeply rooted commitment to social justice earning her notable recognition. In 2016, Ms. Mtai was selected by the United States Department of State to participate in the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) under the theme “Women for Peace and Security”, joining a global network of women leaders advancing governance and peacebuilding initiatives. In 2017, she was named among the Business Daily Top 40 Under 40 Women, acknowledging her pioneering contributions to child justice and legal reform. Her advisory contributions continue to strengthen prosecutorial policy and case resolution standards, shaping both the letter and spirit of criminal justice in Kenya and beyond.
Academically, Ms. Mtai holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Moi University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law and is currently pursuing an LL.M (Human Rights) at the University of Nairobi.
