Nkatha Kabira, University of Nairobi

 Kabira

Dr Nkatha Kabira is a Lecturer at the University of Nairobi, School of Law and a postdoctoral Fellow at the Ife Institute for Advanced Studies, Ile Ife, Nigeria. She completed her doctoral degree at Harvard Law School in May 2015 and has since been working towards converting her doctoral thesis into a book titled, “The Law of Commissions: A Case Study of The Place of Commissions in Law and Governance in Kenya.” The study is the culmination of work done over a period of 10 years in the areas of law and development, constitution making and implementation, legal and institutional reform, rule of law, regulation of the state and the administration of justice. She has professional and research experience in several areas ranging from law and language to democracy and governance and to gender and the law.

 

Research Interests

Her other research interests include entrepreneurship, legal systems and methods, international law and African development, interdisciplinary studies and legal and institutional reform in Africa. She lectures widely and has taught both in Nairobi and at Harvard and has received several awards in recognition of excellence in teaching. Prior to completing the LL.M. Program at Harvard Law School in 2008, she worked as a legal associate and pupil at Kaplan and Stratton Advocates in Nairobi, Kenya. She has worked as a research fellow at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the Kenya Law Reform Commission and the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi and a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the Kenya School of Law. She is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.  

 

Education

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, USA
Doctor of Juridical Sciences (S.J.D.) 2015
FELLOWSHIPS:

  • Harvard Law School, (“HLS”) Graduate Program Fellowships (2008-2013)
  • HLS, Summer Public Interest Fellowship (2008-2014)
  • HLS, Chayes International Public Fellowship (2009)

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, USA
Master of Laws (LLM) (2008) (Fulfilled program requirements) 2008

Kenya School of Law, Nairobi, Kenya
Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice 2007
Advocate of the High Court of Kenya (2007)

University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Bachelor of Laws, LL.B., Upper Second Class Honors 2005
Thesis: “Women and Constitution Making in Kenya”

 

Awards, Academic Positions and Fellowships

  • Lecturer, University of Nairobi, School 2016 to date
  • Adjunct Lecturer, Riara Law School 2015 to date
  • Fellow, Ife Institute of Advanced Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria  2017
  • Hutchins Fellow, W.E. B. Du Bois and Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University  2015-2017
  • Teaching Fellow, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University  2009-2017
  • Harvard Law School, LLM Advisor  2008-2009
  • HLS, Graduate Program Fellow, Teaching Assistant, LLM Writer’s Workshop  2009-2010
  • Derek Bok Award for Excellence in Teaching 2012, 2015-16