Advocates Training Programme
Advocates Training Programme
Professional legal training for candidates pursuing admission to the Roll of Advocates.
About ATP
The Advocates Training Programme is conducted in 18 months; 12 months in-house and 6 months pupillage. Teaching in the Advocates’ Training Programme (the ATP) is conducted on a clinical basis.
Students are divided into six classes — Class A, B, C, D, E and F — each comprising about 200 students. Classes A, B and C attend instruction in the morning and Classes D, E and F in the afternoon.
Each class is divided into “firms” which constitute study groups where legal problems and issues are thoroughly discussed. During moot courts there are simulations of actual law firms in practice. Each firm has a firm leader and a deputy firm leader drawn from each gender. Each class elects a class representative and a deputy class representative as liaison persons between the class and the School’s administration.
Course Units
Instruction takes a clinical approach (learning by doing) and is a combination of problem questions for discussion, simulation, role-plays, interactive seminars and moot courts. The designated courses are:
- Civil Litigation
- Criminal Litigation
- Probate and Administration
- Legal Writing and Drafting
- Trial Advocacy
- Professional Ethics and Practice
- Legal Practice Management
- Conveyancing
- Commercial Transactions
Assessment
Before a student can pass the ATP, he/she is subjected to four types of assessment:
- Project work (1st Term)
- Oral examination (2nd Term)
- Written examination (3rd Term)
- Supervised pupillage (4th Term)
To pass the course, a candidate must score at least 50% on the aggregate of the project work, oral examination and written examination. In addition, one must satisfactorily undertake the supervised pupillage programme.
Training Dates
- Registration: January
- Term 1: January – April
- Term break: 2 weeks in April
- Term 2: May – July
- Term break: July – August
- Term 3: August – October
- Term break: October – November
- Examinations: November
- Term 4: January – June (Pupillage)
Student Guidelines
Dress Code: The School maintains a strict formal dress code for students.
Smoking Policy: The Kenya School of Law is a non-smoking zone.
Identification: Upon registration, every student is issued a student identity card which must be worn visibly at all times within the School.
Legal Framework: Students are required to familiarise themselves with the Council of Legal Education (Kenya School of Law) Regulations, 2009 (Legal Notice No. 169 of 2009).
Students Welfare: The School has various committees which handle student matters, including the Students Disciplinary Committee, Disability Mainstreaming Committee, Sports Committee, HIV/AIDS Prevention Committee and Gender Mainstreaming Committee.
Transport: School transport is provided subject to student numbers and payment of requisite fees, picking and dropping students from designated points for lectures.