On Wednesday 24 March 2021, the Strathmore Law School (SLS) in collaboration with top notch law firms awarded exceptional students who have consistently excelled in their four years at SLS. The awards were given to top students in various subjects such as Commercial law units, Intellectual Property Law and Information Technology Law, Ethics, Jurisprudence, Legal Systems and Methods, and Criminal Law. The award ceremony was an opportunity for SLS to reflect on its well-rounded body of students moulded through its diverse extracurricular activities on offer by awarding students who made impact to the society through Law Clinic activities, dissertations and moots.

Top law firms in the country and the region were present to celebrate the exceptional among us: Coulson Harney Advocates (Bowmans), IKM Advocates, Muma & Kanjama Advocates, KN Law LLP, Anjarwalla & Khanna, DENTONS HH & M, Nyiha Mukoma Advocates, and TripleOKLaw. The firms recognised that the future of excellence in the legal profession lies in the hands of an appreciation and motivation culture in law schools. Each law firm emphatically noted the need to work hard, ethically, and acquiring skills to improve the lives of the people around us.

Pre-Launch of SLS Alumni Chapter

During the award ceremony, the SLS Alumni Chapter was pre-launched. Understood as a key department in the pursuit of excellence at SLS, the launch centred on a panel of SLS alumni, pooled from the year 2016 and 2020. The panel discussed the topic ‘Envisioning an SLS Alumni Chapter: Pursuing Life-Long Learning through Networks & Partnerships’.

Commenting on the impact of alumni relations, Alex Ndegwa, a class of 2018 alumnus said, “My relationship with people I studied with at Strathmore has been everything to this point. A big part of my social circle has been based on SU. We always find each other in similar forums, meetings, interviews, offices.” Mr. Alex Ndegwa, .

It is therefore the intent of SLS to ensure every student leaving Startmore benefits from the alumni network. This would create a sense of belonging for each student through participation in open forums for networking and mentoring. We all look forward to this great Alumni SLS Chapter and we pledge to contribute adequately.

For the full list of award winners, see below:

1. Liza Nagule Chula, Best Overall Finalist student in the graduating class of 2020. Awarded by Coulson Harney.
2. IKM Advocates awarded the Best Male and Female Finalists with highest aggregate scores in the graduating class: John Kiragu Mwangi and Liza Nagule Chula. The two winners had been named the Best Male First Year and Best Female in their first year.
3. 1KM again awarded Emmauel Ndumbi Gacheru and Marie-Victoire Umwali Iradukunda the Best Male First Year and Best Female First Year.
4. Muma & Kanjama awarded the Runner-up Best Overall Finalist: John Kiragu Mwangi. Mr. Kanjama with a personal experience explained the rationale behind awarding the second-best student. He noted that tradition has made it look like that only the first matters, even though the second, third, and fourth do. There is a lot to appreciate from the second-best aggressive competitors who almost became the first. The margins are narrow and always should be awarded for their efforts too.
5. KN Law LLP presented the Commercial Law Prize to John Kiragu Mwangi who scored the highest aggregate score in commercial law subjects: Sale of Goods, Hire Purchase and Agency, Financial Services Law, Law of Business Associations I and Law of Business Associations II.
6. Anjarwalla & Khanna too presented the Commercial Law Prize to Jean Jeptoo Cheptumo who had the highest aggregate score in a selection of commercial law units: Entrepreneurship, Law of contracts, Economics for lawyers, Commercial law, Law of business associations I & II, Intellectual property, conveyancing law & practice, Financial services law, Accounting for lawyers, Taxation law, and Economic analysis of law.
7. Anjarwalla & Khanna awarded Abdulmalik Adan Sugow for being the Best Overall All Round Male Student in the graduating class. He also took the Law Clinics Prize.
8. Anjarwalla & Khanna also awarded the Best Overall All Round Female Finalist in the graduating class: Wabia Nganatha Karugu.

13. Anjarwalla & Khanna Law Clinics Prize awarded the Most outstanding student in law clinics, given to the student who has made the greatest social impact through his/her work in the Strathmore Law Clinics. The Prize went to Abdulmalik Adan Sugow who served as the President of the Strathmore Law Clinic. Under his tenure, the clinic achieved and impacted greatly the society and around surrounding communities.
14. Muma & Kanjama Advocates awarded the Criminal Law Prize to the student with the highest marks in criminal law courses, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure: Caroline Wairimu Kihara.
15. Muma & Kanjama presented the “Jurist of the Year” Award to Liza Nagule Chula who scored the highest cumulative marks in the following courses: Ethics, Jurisprudence and Legal Systems and Methods.
16. DENTONS HH&M awarded the Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law Prize to the student with highest aggregate score in IP and IT law courses: Abdulmalik Adan Sugow.
17. DENTONS HH&M awarded the Taxation Law Prize to the highest aggregate scorer in taxation law courses: Gladwinnie Wangechi Ngatia.
18. Nyiha Mukoma noting the essence of ethics in the legal profession and in daily life awarded the Legal Business Ethics Prize to student with the highest aggregate score in Legal Business Ethics courses to Gladwinnie Wangechi Ngatia.
19. TripleOKLaw noting the fast-growing moot community in SLS awarded the Mooting Award to Mishael Musili Wambua who was part of the team that defeated Harvard in the John H Jackson Moot Court on World Trade Organisation (WTO) Law.
20. TripleOKLaw in appreciating and encouraging research and writing awarded the Dissertation Award to the student with the highest dissertation mark in the 2020 graduating class – Wabia Nganatha Karugu.

This article was written by Anna Jessica Munya and Michael Butera.

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