Students aspiring to be advocates will now get training from various public and private universities in the country after the Court of Appeal ended The Kenya School of Law (KSL) monopoly.

In its ruling on Friday, March 7, 2025, the Court of Appeal declared the long-standing 18-year monopoly unconstitutional, paving the way for other institutions to offer the Advocates Training Programme (ATP).

Justices Patrick Kiage, Lydia Achode, and Weldon Korir ordered the Council of Legal Education (CLE), which administers the ATP, to develop and publish a regulatory framework and standards that would allow for licensing of other public and private institutions to offer the course.

The ATP is an 18-month postgraduate diploma that law graduates must complete to qualify as advocates.

Individuals who pass all nine units in the ATP have their names published in the roll of advocates through a notice in the Kenya Gazette.

Over the past years, the course has been marked with mass failures at KSL, a concern that saw stakeholders sue CLE, the Education Ministry and KSL.

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In his petition, Stephen Nikita Otinga argued that the rising number of aspiring lawyers had strained financial and human resources at KSL, leading to mass failure of ATP students.

Otinga initially sued at the High Court, listing the CLE, Education Ministry and the Attorney-General’s office as respondents. KSL was later joined as an interested party.

The Ministry of Education challenged Otinga’s petition arguing that the CLE does not have the authority to develop a regulatory framework for licensing institutions to offer the ATP.

On its part, CLE stated that learning institutions did not have a reason for not applying for licenses to offer the ATP.

“Besides this concern, it is also economically draining to the affected students who have to incur a huge financial burden of paying for the remarking and examination retakes over and above the high cost of the Advocates Training Programme at the Kenya School of Law,” Otinga said in his petition.

Between 2015 and 2018 only 14.7 percent of students who sat for the bar exam passed. Many students alleged that KSL was overstretched and training was below par.

KSL however, denied the claims, attributing the mass failure to individual efforts rather than institution challenges.

“Failing or passing an examination depends on an individual’s excellence and endeavour. Further, those waiting to resit examinations are no longer students of the interested party (KSL) as after their training, they are released to the 3rd respondent (CLE) to sit for the bar examination,” KSL stated.

Learners further claimed that the KSL monopoly exacerbated financial exploitation through high fees for remarking and re-sitting exams

KSL charges Sh15,000 to remark a failed exam and Sh10,000 for every retake. In 2018 alone, students who failed would have paid up to Sh22.8 million to remark and Sh15.2 million to retake.