Top 10 Leading Law firms in Kenya - Leading legal minds in Kenya

VISA CEMEA HOLDINGS LIMITED (Visa CEMEA)

Director, Head of Legal (Eastern Africa & the Islands)

Set up the legal team in Visa East Africa introducing new structures and best practices for the cluster.
Legal advisor and contract negotiator in a complex US$ 10 million issuing and acquiring card deal as
part of the digitization agenda for over 5000 public services by the government of Kenya.
Advised on complex new market entry requirements and licensing processes in Ethiopia, Mauritius
and Rwanda.
Delivered practical legal advice and analysis on regulatory risk, compliance, litigation and complex
new legislation in emerging markets including Mauritius, Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Part of the team involved in restructuring and design of contract templates from complex strategic
partnership agreements in CEMEA leading to smoother and more predictable deal management.
Collaborated with finance and business to design process improvement initiatives that yielded up to
50% quicker service levels in contracting deal management.

SAFARICOM GROUP PLC & M-PESA AFRICA, (Vodafone Group)

Group Legal Counsel & Public Policy Manager Financial Services.

Procured regulatory approval for new innovative technology applications developed by Agile squads
including M-PESA App, M-PESA Business App (for Merchants) and Pochi la Biashara (an MSME
mobile money solution for micro enterprises).
Negotiated strategic technology agreements across four financial years driving double-digit percentage
growth (>14%+ YoY) in service revenue over the same period. (+45% YoY in 2021). Including the
landmark deal between Safaricom and Visa signed in 2020. (See: https://www.visa.co.ke/about-
visa/newsroom/Safaricom partnership).
Advised all legal aspects of Safaricom’s M-PESA Global project leading to a 12% growth in M- PESA
revenue in the FY 2019/20 after launch in partnership with Western Union connecting customers to
over 500,000 agents in over 200 countries.
Advised and drafted and negotiated all agreements in relation to Fuliza (the world’s first mobile-based
overdraft product. Fuliza disburses US$ over 16 Million worth of financing per day).
Advised Safaricom and M-PESA Africa senior executives and boards on the legal and regulatory
aspects of emerging fintech business technologies including open APIs, cloud computing, card-mobile
money interoperability, mobile wealth management and insurance tech.
Led teams that developed internal policies and controls on important legal and public policy trends such
as payment fraud, customer privacy and data protection, money laundering, cyber security, consumer
protection, business continuity and credit.
Developed strong networks and key relationships with technology industry groups, governments and
subject matter regulatory bodies in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

DENTONS HAMILTON HARRISON & MATHEWS (a Kenyan branch of a global leading law firm).

Associate Counsel- Corporate, Commercial & Project Finance Regulation.

Advised Total Outre’ Mer on all contractual and regulatory aspects of its cross-border 76%
acquisition of Gulf African Petroleum Company (GAPCO). Procured all regulatory (including
COMESA Competition Commission) approvals across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for the largest
energy deal of 2016.
Negotiated complex infrastructure agreements and advised the National Treasury (jointly with PwC
and the World Bank), on the development of 10,000 kilometers of roads in Kenya under a Public
Private Partnership (PPPs) project within an annuity framework. This was a multi-billion- dollar
flagship project of the Kenya government.
Project Finance: Worked as legal, public policy, regulatory compliance advisor for the Kenyan
National Treasury (Ministry of Finance) and several government agencies and parastatals in Kenya’s
largest infrastructure deals undertaken as PPPs.

DENTONS HAMILTON HARRISON & MATHEWS (a Kenyan branch of a global leading law firm).

Lawyer- Litigation, Arbitration & Commercial Dispute Resolution.

Won a landmark constitutional petition in which our client, a leading internet service provider
declared a dispute with the government over US$10 Million in taxes and VAT refunds.
Acted for a large multinational tobacco company on oppressive tobacco control regulations proposing
punitive levies against tobacco manufacturers. Successfully engaged and lobbied the Minister for
Health, the WTO and interest groups for retraction of the oppressive levies.
Successfully defended Kenya’s leading Airline in court against a petition seeking to wind it up and stop
a rights issue valued at over US$ 200 Million in 2012.
Youngest lawyer in the firm to be attached to the litigation team representing large corporate clients in
the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Kenya and the Public Procurement
Administrative Review Board.