Jacqueline Waihenya is and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya mainly practicing as commercial lawyer and she is the Managing Partner of JWM Law LLP, formerly Jacqueline Waihenya Maina & Company Advocates which was founded in 2012. She is the current Deputy Treasurer of the Mombasa Law Society (MLS) and she convenes the Editorial Board of the Mombasa Law Society Journal as well as the ADR and Admiralty & Maritime Committees of MLS. She is also a Fellow Certified Secretary and Accredited Governance Auditor with the Institute of Certified Secretaries and Patent Agent (Kenya Industrial Property Institute). She sits on the Registration of Certified Public Secretaries Board. Jacqueline is an Arbitrator, Mediator and Adjudicator. She currently serves as the Treasurer of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators – Kenya Branch and is an Accredited Dispute Resolution Professional (Arbitrator, Mediator) – Federation of Integrated Conflict Management (FICM), India.
Message from Editor in Chief
The body politic of Mombasa Lawyers has heeded the call to form the Mombasa Law Society Journal (MLS Law Journal). It has been a long time coming but it is here at last! And it is a powerful collaboration between the Mombasa Law Society and the University of Nairobi School of Law, Mombasa Campus.
As your Editor it is not lost upon me that we stand upon a very rich heritage that stretches back to the dawn of the legal profession in this country. As you may know and as we intend to document the Mombasa Law Society was established in the year 1911 when the first High Court was established in Mombasa and the lawyers practicing then came together as a voluntary organization and took the nascent steps to self-regulate as a profession. From 1911 non-lawyers were barred from engaging in legal practice. In 1920 the Law Society of Kenya was born with the merger of the Nairobi Law Society, which had emerged in the capital in the intervening period, and the Mombasa Law Society. The Mombasa Law Society however remained as a voluntary body and we recently celebrated 105 years now three years gone during the leadership of Benjamin Njoroge.
I believe that we probably boast the most Senior Advocates in the Country and the tried and tested Ushwin Khanna who has retired, more than once, will be making a come back with his contemporaries this time round to chronicle the changes that have occurred along the corridors of justice in our sometimes not so idyllic island. As we recently heard at the launch of the newly refurbished Court of Appeal building earlier this year they were in practice well before the dawn of political independence in our country!.
The spirit of volunteerism lives on in the advocates of today living, working and plying their trade in the coastal city and its environs and it is this spirit that has launched the MLS Law Journal and the soon to be staple – the Coast Jurist. We are determined and ambitious and the MLS Law Journal will provide a platform for budding and established academics and we aim to be a distinguished peer reviewed Journal. We have a wealth of qualified scholars, researchers and academics who have already expressed great interest and commitment to establishing and supporting the brand-new MLS Journal which we will publish and print at least once a year. Given the Government directive that those undertaking Masters Degree must publish at least one article before they graduate and those undertaking PHD are required to publish at least two articles either in a chapter of a book or in a referenced journal before they can be cleared for graduation we anticipate to meet the growing scholarly need to publish or perish not only for Mombasa legal scribes but also from the country at large. The MLS Law Journal Editorial Team comprises heavy weight PHDs such as Dr. Sarah Kinyanjui, Dr. Ndegwa Wamuti, Dr. Annette Mbogoh who have built the School of Law Mombasa Campus of the University of Nairobi to what it is today.
The Mombasa community is cosmopolitan and it transcends academia and the editorial board is geared towards catering to all tastes and needs. The Coast Jurist, a publication of the MLS Law Journal has therefore been established to run concurrently and to capture issues relating to practice in our area as well as the welfare of the Mombasa & Coast practitioners. We invite your commentaries on seminal cases, legislative policies as well as the Law, Legal Practice and Welfare. Be aware that Lord T, as he is popularly known, will drive the Coast Jurist and no doubt the legal humdrum will be delivered with a glint of his humour at least twice a year online and in print.
Our Trustee, Commissioner Merch Deche PHD CND no mean writer herself and who somehow manages to effortlessly balance academia, judicial oversight and leadership will continue to be a great resource at the Coast Jurist and MLS Law Journal. As we establish an online presence please note our website www.mlsjournal.co.ke and do make a point to pass by every once in a while, to catch up on the goings on at the Coast Jurist and the MLS Law Journal. The online platforms will be managed by the dynamic duo of Eva Odongo and Gemma Othim. Leon Kongere a very promising law student at the University of Nairobi, Mombasa Campus will work with them to navigate the jungle that is social media.
The MLS Law Journal Secretary Cherie Oyier will coordinate secretarial activities and work closely with Ms. Janet Ojwang and Ms. Cybil Emory of the Mombasa Law Society.
The MLS Law Journal Patron is our Senior Advocate Lumatete Muchai an editor in his own right and a prominent member of the Mombasa Bar of many years standing. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Chairman of the Mombasa Law Society Mr. Mathew Nyabena and his Council for approving this collaborative program with the University of Nairobi and allowing the Chairman, Secretary General and Treasurer to be a part of the Editorial Board. Indeed, I am privileged to work with an amazing Board receptive to views from across the board and specifically from you. We have heard your appeal, we see your vision and on behalf of the members of the Board it is our mission to deliver a homegrown Mombasa based peer reviewed law journal, MLS Law Journal and its sister magazine the Coast Jurist by the lawyers of Mombasa for the lawyers of Mombasa.
Karibuni kwa Jarida La Kisheria!
I welcome you all to your Law Journal!
Jacqueline Waihenya