- Odhiambo is multi-lingual. If you ever need someone who can speak French well enough to pass along to a French-speaking country, that will be her.
- She has also studied basic Arabic, and Italian and is of course good at Luo, Swahili and English.
Image: FILE
On Thursday, lawyers across the country came out in large numbers to choose their new leaders for the next two years.
Out of the five candidates seeking to lead the Law Society of Kenya, Faith Mony Odhiambo, who has been the council's vice president emerged as the winner.
She garnered 3,113 votes as Peter Wanyama came in second with 2,165 votes. Carolyne Kamende came third with 888.
Odhiambo becomes the 51st President succeeding Eric Theuri who served as President for a two-year term from March 2022.
She is now the second female president to lead the LSK after former Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo who served between 2001 -2003.
But who is the new LSK president?
Odhiambo is multi-lingual. If you ever need someone who can speak French well enough to pass along to a French-speaking country, that will be her.
She has also studied basic Arabic, and Italian and is of course good at Luo, Swahili and English.
Born to a lecturer, her father is a lecturer at Maseno University, Odhiambo wears many academic hats.
She holds an LLB (Hons) from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, a Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law, and an LLM (Hons) in International Commercial Law with European Law from the University of Kent (UK).
She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators-UK (MCIarb).
Besides being a professional in legal matters, she is a Certified Public Secretary (CPS).
Odhiambo is a PhD student at the University of Nairobi where her research is focused on issues to do with competition law, consumer protection law, telecommunications law, banking law, financial services, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.
She is also covering societal topics including women's and children’s rights, climate change, human rights, intellectual property rights, and economic law.
Showing her passion and dedication to law, Odhiambo serves as a lecturer at the School of Law at UoN, with most of what she teaches touching on her research topics.
Besides being a member and leader of LSK, she served as board secretary of the Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (FIDA-Kenya).
She is a partner at Ombok and Owuor LLP Advocates and a consulting partner at MMA Advocates and the UoN.
What to expect after her win
Owing to her career as a law lecturer, Odhiambo says she understands young advocates and their plight.
During her campaign, she vowed to deal with all cases of corruption.
"We are lawyers and if we serve the public, we are not going to allow any corrupt officials out to enrich themselves," she said.
She emphasised on the need for all corrupt judicial officers to abandon the vice and serve with integrity.
The lawyer said anyone who goes against the grain must be flagged out and cease serving.
She, at the same time, promised to ensure that the society remains a strong voice for its members and the public as she committed to addressing the challenges of employment for lawyers.
"We have challenges in ensuring young lawyers get work opportunities and that is something that we are working on. During my tenure as the VP, we started a mentorship program to ensure they get briefs and I promise to enhance it," Odhiambo said.
Following her win, Wanyama conceded, congratulating her and blaming his loss on claims of him being government-sponsored.