Rebecca Nyamunsi Mogire is an advocate of the Court of Kenya. She was admitted to the bar in 2014. Rebecca is a Partner in Ombok & Owuor Advocates LLP based in Nairobi Kenya. A law firm that offers cutting- edge legal services in a variety of areas including Alternative Dispute Resolution, Commercial Transactions, Legal Consultancy, Family and Succession Law, Civil and Criminal Litigation. Rebecca’s main focus areas of practice are Dispute resolution (both ADR and Litigation) and Family and Succession Law.
She is a former member of the Competition Tribunal of Kenya, having served as such from 3rd May 2019 to May 2022, when her term lapsed.
She currently serves in the Continuous Practice Development Committee of the Law Society of Kenya and holds a membership with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Kenya Chapter).
1. Are you worried about AI disrupting the legal profession?
The emergence and rapid growth of AI as a necessary tool in workplaces is a reality that cannot be ignored. The debate on whether it will ultimately substitute human beings in performance of certain functions has been extensively argued, and I need not delve into the same because I do not believe that AI poses an existential threat to any profession, let alone law.
I must concede that Artificial Intelligence has an important role to play in legal practice. It is a means to ensure the ease with which Lawyers can organize their work, ensure trackable updates on the matters they handle and conduct research in the course of rendering legal services. The point of disparity with respect to the use of AI in the legal profession has arisen where some lawyers and litigants have used AI to generate legal documents. The importance of originality of legal documents, especially in view of the stringent rules on lawyer-client confidentiality, cannot be overstated. Such practices of subjecting client information and private data to the potential risk of being disseminated globally undermines the duties of lawyers to their clients. Rightly, US Courts, for instance in the Walmart case, have been emphatic that AI generated legal documents will not be entertained in courts. That, in my view, should be the general consensus. We must embrace the benefits that AI presents, but we must equally ensure we do not abuse it at the expense of our fundamental duties as lawyers.
2. What areas of law practice do think will boom in the future?
The development of the digital space and economy is perhaps the most prolific aspect of modern society. Law reflects the spirit of society, and it follows the changes within a society. Therefore, I believe that for the foreseeable future, the biggest beneficiary in legal practice will be matters relating to the digital ecosystem. In respect to this, the following three come to mind:
i. The first, and which we have discussed already, is AI. The opportunities, risk and threats that AI presents to modern society are matters that will require continuous legal intervention and ingenuity to ensure human beings remain in control of the risks that come with AI while fully exploiting its benefits.
ii. Secondly is the data protection space which remains yet to be adequately mapped out. Within the current global context of technological advancements, the exploitation of data is a real threat not only to economic interests but human rights and safety. The law must adequately provide safeguards for these important interests and rights, and lawyers must be at the forefront of staying ahead of the fold in these efforts.
iii. Third is the law on anti-money laundering. The increasing exploitation of block chains, cryptocurrency and increased uptake in cross-border stock markets creates opportunities for increased money laundering activities. This will inadvertently aid and facilitate the activities of criminal enterprises worldwide. The law must respond to critical loopholes that arise from the non-traceability of digital currencies and the classification of various assets that presently do not have reporting requirements.
3. What reality dawned on you when you started practising Law which you never contemplated while studying law?
As a young student going through law school, you enjoy the benefit of the hope that comes with youth. The effect of that hope is the belief that becoming a lawyer is the ticket to a better life, or even ultimate success. I remember my first class as a law student when our lecturer asked the famous question “why do you want to be a lawyer?” Several of my colleagues responded saying it was their path to wealth and riches. Shortly after my admission to the bar, you come to an almost instant epiphany that it does not come nearly as easy as you hope.
The fanciful lives led by the top hipster lawyers we all looked up to, and even drooling at the prospect of one day being at the level of our lecturers was often mistaken as an assurance that provided we became lawyers, that life was assured. The harsh reality is, however, becoming an Advocate merely symbolized the start of a very long and tedious journey that nobody really prepares you for. From the struggle and hustle of finding clients to the strain of doing their work within often unrealistic timelines, to the difficulty of chasing payments even after work is done, these are the unseen struggles that really characterize being a lawyer. Beyond that is the inescapable need to advance oneself constantly and consistently. To get to the top of the game and stay there, you must remain prepared to learn and unlearn. Whether it is developing additional skills, seeking certifications beyond academic qualifications, remaining informed and well-read on emerging areas of law and developing jurisprudence, a good lawyer is the one who understands that being a lawyer is being a student for life.
4. What Inspired you to study law?
Growing up in a fairly modest and traditional set up and environment, the reality of society as we are taught to know it and reality as we live it are starkly different. Justice systems in such a context are not nearly as elaborate or as academic as they are in more urbanized settings. Therefore, I grew up witnessing a lot of injustice being passed off as justice. While I appreciate the role and place of Traditional Dispute Resolution methods, they often leave a lot to be desired in terms of ensuring justice is found. More often than note, the approach of TDR is to resolve conflict as opposed to ensure justice; in some instances, this approach does not work. For instance, how is it that blood money is a concept that can be adopted to bring justice to victims and families of people who are murdered? How is the offering of a few heads of cattle sufficient recourse for a young girl who has been defiled? Evidently, very little consideration is given to the victim under such a framework. I never felt satisfied that that was what justice looked like, and my dream was to redefine what justice truly is, if not for my society, then at least for myself and for those coming up after and looking up to me.
5. What can be done to make law more profitable for lawyers?
From the onset, allow me to state that the profitability of any profession, law included, is a matter of individual initiative. Many engineers are at the pinnacle of technological advancements and many have been forced to deviate into matters that do not relate to the profession in any way because to them, it is not profitable. Same to the law, many lawyers have flourished in private practice and are the go-to practitioners in their areas of expertise, but very many have abandoned the law and sought alternative means of finding their bread and butter for the reason that the ‘profession is crowded and unrewarding’. The right balance of grit, networking, and willingness to learn are an individual exercise that can sustain any lawyer’s efforts to make themselves profitable as professionals.
However, I cannot ignore the unique influence and opportunity that Bar associations have that make them important players in enhancing the profitability of the profession. By advocating and lobbying for assured remuneration standards for all lawyers, and protecting the profession from exploitative practices such as undercutting, bar associations can help enhance the profitability of the profession as a whole.
6. If you are given an opportunity to change something in the justice system, what will you change?
There is an age-old saying that justice delayed is justice denied. However, the reality of most justice systems is riddled with extensive turnaround times for determining cases and heavy backlog in concluding matters. In Kenya, the need for justice to be dispensed expeditiously is a major issue, and is recognized as such by the constitution which lists several principles of judicial authority, among them, expeditious resolution of disputes. The practice of straightforward matters taking decades to resolve undermines not just the work of lawyers but justice as a whole. Personally, I am currently representing a client in a matter that started in 2016, and is still far from its conclusion. I am equally representing another client in a case before the court of appeal which was first started at the High Court in 2000, 14 years before I even started my practice. This should not be the norm, and it needs to change.
7. If you are given $100,000 to donate to a cause, what cause will you donate to?
The empowerment of the boychild. Be as it may that I am a woman and I fully understand, agree with and support all the efforts that have been put into affirmative action and gender equality, I cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that these efforts have almost entirely obscured the plight of the boychild. I believe that the boychild faces serious threats that cannot be ignored if we desire to have a society of true equality, with men who have the mental, emotional and psychological capacity to coexist with women.
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8. If the option to be a lawyer ceases to exist, what other profession will you choose?
I would be a doctor- that was my childhood dream. Of course, growing up when I did, the archetypal big three professions were the only careers that were believed to be for intelligent children. Informed by that, I wanted to be a doctor, until growth gave me an enhanced understanding of myself and enabled me to make the realizations that led me to change course to law.
9. What do you consider the three greatest inventions of all time?
The internet, aviation and maritime transport.
10. On a scale of 1-10, ten being the most relevant, how will you rate the relevance of your Bar Association/ Law Society in the professional lives of lawyers?I will give the Law Society of Kenya a 9!
