How I became a wealth lawyer

The Girl from Tito is also a guest lecturer at Strathmore University. Furthermore, it trains lawyers and other practitioners in wealth structuring. She is also a certified professional mediator.

Yes, of course! I come from Tito in Nyeri County and the first time I left Nyeri to join Moi University in Eldoret for my law degree was in 2008. My friends tease me all the time because I only learned that not everyone understands Kikuyu when I joined the university.

I was a local girl, and I remember calling my mother to ask permission to attend Fresher's Night. (A party organized for first year students). Of course she said no, and I spent the whole night alone in the room.

My childhood was a typical rural upbringing, as I was the fourth of five siblings. I've always been adaptable, a trait I still carry as a typical middle child. One of my fondest memories is when I passed 8th grade with 409 out of 500 marks. My family was thrilled with my accomplishment, and when they asked me what I wanted, I simply said I wanted Sprite soda, canned. My brother fulfilled this wish, and I was very happy. It's a memory that makes me smile even now.

This was my mother's suggestion. I was a bright student and had a special affinity for chemistry. When we were choosing a course, I chose the Bachelor of Science in Education because I wanted to become a teacher of chemistry and business education.

However, when the results came out, I had done very well with 79 points. My parents, both teachers, said I couldn't accept teaching for my grade. My father wanted me to switch to engineering but I didn't like physics. So I accepted my mother's suggestion to study law, and six months into the course, I realized that this was the right course for me.

After obtaining my law degree, I joined Kenya School of Law (KSL), after which I started applying to the school. This was the first time I received rejection. I grew up with a lot of love and affection from my parents. My father always referred to me as a princess or a boss.

Also, being a smart student, I got almost everything I wanted. So applying for discipleship and being rejected was new to me. But I'm also grateful, because it opened my eyes to how the world works. After two rejections, I was accepted into a firm in 2014 and started my law practice there.

Yes, I am a wealth lawyer. But this didn't just happen. I grew up with my immediate previous employer. I joined the firm in 2014 after I was admitted to the bar and began doing clerical duties. The firm was also relatively new at the time, but is now among the leading law firms. After she was confirmed as an employee, the company needed to start doing basic succession. I was assigned to one succession case and then the whole department exploded – dealing with one succession case after another.

I was promoted to senior assistant within a year of becoming a defender. By my third year of practice, I was the go-to person for succession and family business structuring issues. By the time I left the firm earlier this year, I was a partner.

In layman's terms, what a wealth lawyer does is review the portfolio, which includes all your assets and all your liabilities. They look at it and advise on the legal risks you face in your investment portfolio. The risks could be that you are vulnerable to creditors, poor debt structuring, and the like. We review legal and tax risks.

Tax risk is something that most people don't see because it's not obvious to you and you're not a tax expert. Sometimes, you don't realize that your return on investment (ROI) is lower just because you are under a burdensome tax burden. For example, currently, the tax burden of personal income tax is higher than corporate income tax.

Anyone who builds their business as a sole proprietorship pays more taxes. So a wealth lawyer will come and advise that it is time to turn it around and make it a corporation. We help structure wealth for our clients.

The constantly evolving tax landscape for trusts creates uncertainty. For example, between 2021 and 2024, all four finance bills appear to have introduced or attempted to introduce changes in the taxation of trusts.

This impacts practice and explains the imbalance in national policy on promoting and preserving generational wealth. Moreover, there are not many wealth lawyers in Kenya. Structuring this practice has been about learning the process as I go and adapting to the client's needs.

The bulk of private wealth practice has always been by finance practitioners while lawyers have focused solely on estate planning and have not generally considered the larger area of ​​wealth structuring.

I like to say that I am my father's son in many ways. I was raised by a father whose love was palpable. Like you can touch it The love I felt when he was alive holds me together even when things don't go well. This love I got directly from him keeps me going. I very much agree with Harper Lee's quote that says: …she did not stand alone, but what stood behind her, the most powerful moral force in her life, was her father's love.

There is no such thing as work-life balance. It's work-life integration. As a mother of three relatively young children, I have to make sure I don't fail in any of my duties. I have mastered the art of fitting my kids into my busy schedule, and vice versa. For example, I plan to drive them to school most mornings, which means I rarely schedule meetings during the morning hours. If there are any events after work in the evening, I make sure I go home first, connect with the kids, and then come back for the event. I also have a very strong support system at home and at work.

Sometimes I still find it surreal that this girl from Tito has come this far. We currently have a global clientele, and the fact that I have the opportunity to advise the world's richest people on how to structure and manage their wealth is a huge achievement for me. When my partners ask me my opinion on something, which happens often because we work as a team, I sometimes hesitate and think. Wow, my opinion matters to people who are very advanced in this field. It's a humbling experience.

It looks promising, for sure. The future is global for me, I am not just a Kenyan lawyer now. I get to talk to and advise people who own wealth across the region and the world on how to structure it. And this is very exciting to me because I can't imagine that a girl from Tito could now do that – it's like two separate realities. I'm also very intentional that when it comes time to take a look at my life, there will be no regrets and I will be happy with the decisions I've made regarding the relationships that I find essential.