The appointment of Phyllis W. Kamau as Partner marks a deliberate expansion of the firm’s
upstream legal advisory capacity built for a continent where the rules are still being written.
Thomas Louis Advocates (TLA) has today announced the appointment of Phyllis Kamau as
Partner and Head of Regulatory & Policy.
The appointment is a strategic investment in the firm’s long-term architecture. TLA’s vision
is to be the leading commercial law firm serving Africa’s innovation economy, the space
where high-growth businesses converge with complex regulatory environments that are
often incomplete, contested, or still being actively designed. Building a world-class firm
requires more than transactional excellence. It requires the capacity to master relevant
policy and engage the institutions that set the rules before those rules are set.
Ms. Phyllis Kamau’s appointment is precisely pivotal towards that capacity.
“Africa’s most consequential markets are being built inside regulatory uncertainty. Our clients
need counsel that can shape the environment they operate in, not merely respond to it. Phyllis
strongly embodies exactly such capability, forged across the institutions and markets that
define how technology and digital finance move on this continent. This appointment reflects
where we are going: Establishing a full-scale, world-class commercial law firm built for the
innovation economy.”
– Thomas Louis, Founding Partner, Thomas Louis Advocates
A PRACTITIONER BUILT FOR THIS MOMENT
Ms. Kamau is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, admitted to the Roll of Advocates in
2008, with over eighteen years of experience advising large commercial manufacturers, local
and global financial services institutions and leading technology corporations on regulatory
strategy, policy engagement and government relations across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ms. Kamau’s career has been built against the backdrop of manufacturing, banking and
payments infrastructure, tech and telecoms regulation and policy that defines some of
TLA’s key practice areas. She brings aboard TLA, vast corporate governance and policy
experience flowing from her tenure as Assistant Legal Counsel at East African Breweries
Limited (EABL), previously a Diageo group company where she was part of the legal team
advising the “Tusker Twende Kazi” and “Tusker Project Fame” projects. She subsequently led
government relations at Safaricom PLC, developing and executing policy positions with
regulatory bodies and producing regulatory impact assessments on proposed legislation
work that sits at the heart of the digital financial services architecture underpinning the
country’s mobile economy. Phyllis subsequently spent seven years at Visa CEMEA as
Director of Government Engagement for Eastern Africa and as Snr. Director/Head of
Government Business with a mandate spanning thirty-four markets, including Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mauritius, Seychelles and others, navigating central
bank policy, cross-border regulatory frameworks and payment system oversight at the
highest level.
“The most interesting legal work in Africa right now sits at the boundary between innovation
and institutions, an underserved market, where businesses are moving faster than the
frameworks that govern them, and where the advice that matters most is the advice that
helps clients navigate that gap intelligently. Thomas Louis Advocates has built a team
designed to meet the modern investor’s needs and I am joining a firm that understands what
it means to serve Africa’s emerging economy with genuine commercial ambition.”
— Phyllis Kamau, Partner & Head of Regulatory & Policy, Thomas Louis
Advocates
Ms. Kamau’s appointment takes effect immediately. She joins TLA’s partnership alongside
Founding Partner Thomas Louis and the firm’s growing team of legal professionals
advising on corporate commercial, M&A, private equity, real estate, energy, infrastructure,
financial services regulation, fintech and payments, and virtual assets across East and Sub
Saharan Africa.
Thomas Louis Advocates is a commercial law firm based in Nairobi, Kenya, advising clients
at the intersection of corporate commercial transactions, financial services regulation,
emerging technology, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and competition law, real estate &
infrastructure, energy & petroleum and evolving regulation. TLA’s vision is to be the
leading commercial law firm serving Africa’s innovation economy.
Media Enquiries: office@tla_admin