Practice as compared to study of law in Kenya The study of law entails the attendance of classes where students are

taught the theoretical aspects of the law. An example of the laws that the students are taught is tort, sale of good, contract, criminal and constitutional law. after a thorough research into these laws taught, ideally the student is able to understand the content of these laws, how breach of these laws arise and the remedy that should be sought in each scenario in addition to who should seek the said remedy in the court of law. Ideally from a students perspective the practice of law would then entail the application of the law that was theoretically learned to situations that arise in day to day life. The advocate will get a person who has been legally wronged in any area of the law and proceed to zealously defend the person in court. The student would feel much equipped to engage in this practice since they have done the civil procedure and the various applications that are used in court for different processes. Acquisition of such knowledge is complete when the student attends the Kenya School of Law. During my short stay at the court (while undertaking my Clinicals Programme), I got a chance to draw various applications and a judgment in a mock attempt at the same. It then came to my realization that simply knowing the rules of how to draft the applications like petitions was not enough to give one the necessary skills to draft the near perfect applications. To perfect the art of performing this task one needed a lot of practice. Such practice went to the extent of just drawing a few applications aimed towards the course work done in school. Failure to gain the necessary skill to perform this task was the wasting of a lot of time making reference to the laws to draw the applications. This wastes a lot of time that could have been spent researching on the case that one is going to present in court. It thus clearly emerged that though the theoretical party of the law is very important, experience is an invaluable aspect of the practice. Some problems may be encountered in court that the solution to may not have been taught in class. An example would be if

the witness is uncooperative of the other litigant proves to be uncooperative it would take some high negotiation skills to handle the situation. If one wants to convince the court to accept the application then how one presents the case in a logical manner is what may prove to be the distinguishing mark in the end. Presentation of the case is a matter of skill which is learnt as one continues to practice and not immediately taught in school. In the practice of law, the good lawyer should be quick to think on their feet all the time. When one is before the court presenting the case then they should be able to link the all the law with the facts of the case to construct the argument in such a manner that the court will be convinced that their client was on the right side of the law and was indeed wronged. Unlike in the school where one learns the law as different subjects and does the exam on particular sectors of the law, in observing the practice of the law I did come to the realization that all the laws are interconnected. So therefore when one goes to court they must be acquainted with almost all the segments of the law. Failure to know this will lead to errors like quoting the wrong section of the law having a detrimental effect on the clients case. Applying the law to the facts of the case is a challenge. It follows that in certain laws like in the law of tort dealing with negligence there are principles like the duty, breach of duty of care and damage. In litigation the advocates do not directly quote the principles in a step by step procedure before proving each. They argue based on the facts of the case in a manner such that when constructed and carefully looked upon while applying the law it will be overt that it is tort that is being dealt with. This is quite distinct from what the student would expect to see in court. In class the student is taught the rules and regulations that apply in court, what to do and what not to do. However in practice, there will always be some lawyers who are looking to get their way by finding a way to break those rules without any consequences. Sometimes this may be intentional with a wrong motive while in other

times it may be necessary to best serve the client. An example would be where the advocate asks leading questions in court to their client and end up getting away with it, those who regularly seek adjournment with no good reason. The magistrate may also use shortcuts in order to meet the ends of justice so one has to be willing to accommodate such things. In one case i saw a judge beckoning the litigants to summaries cross examination to speed things up or having the accused persons to take pleas in a unison way