Man arrested for masquerading as a lawyer, running law firm for one year

A man who has been posing as a lawyer in Meru County for more than one year has been arrested and detained for 14 days.

The accused, James Kimathi Muthuri was nabbed on Monday, a week after he went into hiding following a raid by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) at his office last week.

Appearing before Tigania Law Courts Magistrate Rose Ongila on Tuesday, the suspect denied charges of impersonation claiming he is a law student and that the said law firm he has been practicing under belongs to his uncle. 

The LSK however established that the office does not exist in the registration of law farms.

“Muthuri has been masquerading as an advocate and indeed appeared before court number 3 and represented clients when he knows he is not qualified,” Marias Maranya the lawyer representing the LSK said.

 “He even had the  audacity of opening a Law office in a market called Muriri but when LSK officials raided the office to seek the licences, the man literally took off.”

Since the suspect has been appearing before Magistrate Rose Ongila on all his cases, she recused herself arguing that she is a person of interest or otherwise a witness in the case. 

The magistrate said the matter will be mentioned before another Court on May 2nd, 2023 for directions and issue of bond. 

“The accused person appeared before this court on March 28, 2023, acting as an advocate. It is clear from the above that I cannot hear or make any decision on the matter since potentially am a witness…so to promote fair hearing I recuse myself from handling this matter,” she said.

Mt.Kenya Region LSK Chairperson Mutuma Buria has lamented the increasing number of impersonators in the Mt. Kenya region, calling upon the LSK leadership to help weed out such persons in the court and law practice.

He says the worst effect of the scenarios is that all cases filed by such unqualified or unrecognised lawyers will be a nullity and struck out in court including criminal cases that he has also represented at Tigania Law Court.

While urging the public to be alert to avoid being duped by impersonators, Buria advised the public to consider verifying the credentials of advocates on the LSK website before being represented.

“If you go to the search engine for the Law Society of Kenya and input the name of the person who is representing you, you are able to tell if they are active or inactive,’ he said.

He added: “For lawyers, you have to remain active and ensure the license is paid and renewed every year.”

The accused was denied bond and detained for 14 days.