Theme: "Mentor Me: Starting My Journey"
Mentor: Godwin
Wangongu, Senior Partner at Mboya Wangongu & Waiyaki Advocates.
Date: Tuesday 24th
July 2012
The jitters that come with every beginning came
along with the first session of KUZA. Throughout the day as we waited for the brain-child
to be introduced into the world we anticipated its arrival.
At last, at 5.30 pm the inaugural session of KUZA took to life
with the arrival of Godwin Wangongu, Senior Partner at Mboya Wangongu &
Waiyaki Advocates. A movement of 50-strong students yearning to hear how he
grew from a student at the University of Nairobi law degree program, then at
the Main Campus to a respectable lawyer in one of the leading firms in
corporate/commercial law in Kenya.
We are proud to present to you excerpts of this defining
moment of the KUZA mentorship program.
Godwin Wangongu tells
his story:
Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time? I ask this because
it is a question we ask our interviewees when we are recruiting at the firm. It
is a question I like to ask. As I continue you’ll see why I am asking you this
question.
In University I knew I was called to be a litigator. As soon
as I was in the profession I was working with the likes of Mohammed Ibrahim and
Charles Nyachae was the senior partner at the firm I was working at. All
through my University life I knew that I was born to litigate. Unfortunately, I never had a session like
today’s to question what I wanted to do in the future.
I worked in litigation for 4-5 years left and then I left
and started my own firm. During my litigation work I consistently got enquiries
from some of my clients who wanted conveyancing transactions done for them.
Over time, I concentrated on these conveyancing and commercial transactions and
my other colleagues who came into the firm did the litigation.
I realized that litigation was sapping out the energy from
me. So we called in some strategy advisers. They observed that 2/3 of the work
coming into the firm was litigation but more of the work was from
non-contentious issues: commercial work and corporate work. After a year and a
half my firm merged with Mboya’s and we found a sharper focus in the areas I
was interested in: corporate/commercial law.
The firm then grew in a specialized area of practice
especially work related with the Capital Markets. I was the Senior Partner of
the firm. We later Invited another person to come in and help us. He came from
the corporate world and although he was a practicing lawyer, he was also a
specialist in capital markets. Thus, we formed the Mboya, Wangongu and Waiyaki
Advocates. I am still the Senior Partner at the firm.
I believe in mentorship. When we hire, we need to be
deliberate with our efforts to know the people we bring into the firm. We look
for people who know our firm. When we bring in new members, we also mentor
them. We require every associate who comes in to mentor another person. Every
person who comes in is to mentor another. We believe that everyone has
something to pass on.
How did I move on from
litigation to commercial and corporate world?
The firm was primarily a litigation firm. As we grew we
noticed that most of the work coming into our firm was from clients in the
commercial area. Those who then joined us would take over the litigation we
would do in connection with the corporate cases.
We used to defend insurance firms against claims from third
parties. The firm grew and we looked for a bigger challenge. It was a
deliberate choice. We decided not to do insurance-related claims. There were also
some land cases, cases taken in the 90s which are still being finalized. Since
in this country, land is an emotive area, these cases drag on.
It was a challenge, though. It also took a change our focus;
for us to put more energy and learn more about the field.
Where are we going as
a firm?
From being corporate and commercial, we are developing into full-service
firm. The irony is, though I started off in litigation and progressed into
corporate/commercial matters, our firm is not putting in more resources to invest
in litigation! This is because we are getting pressure from our clients to
expand and offer litigation. Our clients have expressed interest in having a
one-stop-shop for all services in the legal field.
Where are YOU going to be in 5 years?
Back to the question I asked you at the beginning. You need
to think about your future. Let me give you an example. One of my colleagues is
not only a lawyer, but also tax specialist. I’m not talking about the unit in
Tax Law you may learn here in your degree program. You could study accounts,
tax etc, so when a client comes to the firm, the client gets advice as both a
lawyer and a tax specialist.
If you see that in 5 years you would like to be a Company
Secretary, start thinking today about what you would require for that. Enroll
yourself in a Certified Public Secretary (CPS) course and register for the
KASNEB exams.
Or, you may be thinking you want to join the diplomatic
services. Start thinking about how to get involved in activities that will help
you understand international law. Take for example the current PS of Foreign
Affairs, Mwangi Thuita is a lawyer. He was actually my classmate. While we were
busy dreaming of litigation he was more concerned with international law and
diplomacy.
There are those of you who may want to be academicians;
those who would like to get your First Class Honors, pursue a Masters, PhD and
later lecture at a University. You need to be studious. One such person I know is
Dr Phoebe Okowa who graduated from the University of Nairobi with a First
Class, obtained a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) and a Doctorate in Public
International Law (D.Phil) and is now a is a Reader in Public International Law
at Queen Mary, University of London.
(Check out her profile at: http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/staff/okowa.html
)
Briefly, that was my journey. That is why I was glad to come
to KUZA, to share with you my journey so that you can have an idea as to where
you would like to be, and most importantly how to get there. KUZA is important
because mentorship IS important. We have been doing mentorship in our firm and
we have seen the big impact it has had on our juniors. We have watched them
grow through mentorship. We stress that mentorship is important in our firm
because after intensive training of our juniors we have even seen some of our
juniors advising our seniors!
Mentoring IS important. You need to walk with
someone, to work with this person hand in hand. Be a part of KUZA. It IS
important.
