Name: Kenyas aspiring lawyers grapple with harassment and exploitation
Uploaded: 2026-01-01T14:45:54.145Z
Duration: 3 min 43 s
Description: On-the-job training for aspiring lawyers in Kenya is often marred by more than academic pressure. For many young women, it means quietly enduring harassment, bullying, and exploitation.

On-the-job training for aspiring lawyers in Kenya is often marred by more than academic pressure. For many young women, it means quietly enduring harassment, bullying, and exploitation.

Nairobi

Aspiring lawyers in Kenya, especially women, frequently encounter harassment, bullying, and exploitation during their pupillage—a mandatory training period before admission to the bar. Many report verbal abuse, unpaid work, and being assigned tasks unrelated to legal practice, with some victims hesitant to report abuse due to the power held by senior colleagues.

Despite the Law Society of Kenya's policy against unwelcome sexual conduct, enforcement remains weak and the culture in many firms prioritizes obedience over competence. Efforts to educate young lawyers about their rights have begun, but significant change is still needed to ensure safe and supportive workplaces in the legal profession.

Kenya's aspiring lawyers grapple with harassment and exploitation

When Mercy began training for her admission to the bar, she expected mentorship and guidance. Instead, the young lawyer endured harassment, bullying and exploitation throughout the pupillage. What should have been a season of growth became a time of despair. Most of my superiors were very verbally abusive, so they would make comments that would make you feel smaller instead of actually encouraging you. Sometimes you're not even paid, so it feels somehow as if it's expulsion. Mercy's story is far from unique in Kenya, where the road to becoming a lawyer demands ambition, sacrifice and silent suffering for many young women. I think pupillage is one of the most challenging times, when you think about the sexual harassment that goes on in most workplaces. In 2025, over 1,200 workplace harassment cases filed with Kenya's National Gender and Equality Commission. Those included complaints from within the legal sector itself. When we were applying for pupillage, one was turned into a driver. They were chauffeuring their partner's kids, which is crazy because how is that related to the practice of the law? When things are not relevant to practice and someone's career progression, then surely that is harassment. Some of these people that are perpetrators of these wrongs have senior positions, so people tend to shy away from maybe reporting it to a police station or filing a proper suit in court because they don't know what will happen to their careers because we're just starting out anyway. Law Society of Kenya Policy outlaws any unwelcome sexual conduct that creates a hostile work environment. Yet, enforcement is weak. Recent graduates say the profession isn't doing enough to protect young lawyers. Not everyone agrees there's a problem. In some firms, tradition still frames pupillage as a test of obedience, not competence. From what I've experienced and from what I've seen in the firms, it's more of seniority. And when it's more of seniority, it's about obedience. If your senior tells you something, then you should obey without questioning because he's your senior. These attitudes persist, shaping spaces where silence is rewarded and speaking out can cost you your future. So what would real change look like? I think a lot of institutions would need to make it more public, even for the purpose of these pupils, giving them a platform in which they can now report such cases. But the story doesn't have to end in silence. The Law Society of Kenya has tried, but we can do better. They've tried in terms of just educating us more when we're at the Kenya School of Law, what to expect, what to do, and all that. The practice has not significantly changed, but we're getting there slowly. The fight against sexual harassment in Kenya's legal profession is about restoring dignity to justice. When the legal community embraces accountability, empathy and strong policies, it can transform workplaces and reaffirm that law exists to safeguard every person's rights.

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