The Firm

A Kenyan firm, by design.

We were founded on a refusal: the refusal to take every matter that walked in the door. That refusal is still the practice. We are advocates of the High Court of Kenya.

Marble spiral staircase in the firm's Nairobi chambers.

The rooms, and the principle

In 1978, James Hale and James Whitmore opened a two-room practice on Kimathi Street. Kenya’s private bar was still small. They agreed on a single principle: take the matter that matters, staff it as if the firm had nothing else, and refuse the rest.

We now practise from Westlands, Mombasa, and Kisumu. We appear in the High Court, the Environment and Land Court, the Employment and Labour Relations Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court. We advise on the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the Companies Act 2015, and the land statutes of 2012.

We are forty-two advocates. The partner whose name is on the engagement letter is the advocate who stands up. Catherine Hale, SC, has held the chair since 2019.

“We would rather be ready than busy.”

James Hale, Nairobi, 1981

A practice, in brief

Five dates that still instruct the docket.

1978

Kimathi Street

Catherine’s father, James Hale, and James Whitmore open a two-room practice on Kimathi Street as Kenya’s private sector expands. They agree to take fewer matters than they can fill.

1992

Liberalisation

The land and commercial practice grows with the first wave of privatisation. The firm files its first appeal in the Court of Appeal sitting at Nairobi.

2003

Mombasa

A Coast practice — conveyancing, port-related commercial work, and later devolution — becomes a named office on Nyerere Avenue.

2010

The Constitution

Promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. Judicial review, the Bill of Rights, and county government cease to be a specialism and become the ordinary condition of the brief.

2019

Catherine Hale

Catherine Hale is elected Managing Partner. In 2021 she is conferred Senior Counsel. The docket does not get larger. The win rate does. Kisumu opens the same year.

Offices