NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 6 – The High Court has temporarily stopped the Kenya School of Law (KSL) and the Council of Legal Education (CLE) from implementing disputed admission criteria for the 2027/2028 Advocates Training Programme (ATP).

📻 Breaking It Down

Justice J.N. Onyiego issued the orders after certifying as urgent a petition challenging the legality and constitutionality of the admission requirements published for the upcoming ATP intake.

The court has restrained KSL and CLE from implementing the contested criteria, processing applications or admitting and enrolling students under the disputed requirements pending an inter partes hearing.

The respondents have also been directed to preserve the status quo that existed before the publication and implementation of the contested admission criteria.

📌 What You Need to Know

The respondents are required to file their responses within seven days of being served, while the applicants have been given two days to file a rejoinder, if necessary.

The court has also allowed the parties to file skeleton submissions of no more than five pages, using font size 13.

They maintain that any substantive changes to ATP entry requirements must be made by an institution legally authorised to do so and through the constitutional and statutory procedures governing legislation and subsidiary legislation.

A key issue before the court is the status of draft regulations being developed as part of ongoing reforms in the legal education sector.

The petitioners say CLE has prepared the draft Legal Education (Licensing and Quality Assurance) Regulations, 2026 and the draft Legal Education (Advocates Training Programme) Regulations, 2026.

However, they argue that the regulations have not completed the required processes, including public participation, parliamentary consideration, approval and gazettement.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya