Lawyer Waweru Gatonye, who represented President Uhuru Kenyatta during the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) hearing, will be smiling all the way to the bank after a government agency was ordered to pay him Ksh263 million.
The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) was ordered to pay the lawyer the sum as compensation for the legal services his firm offered eight years ago. This is according to Business Daily.
At the time, IRA was locked in a court battle with Lakestar Insurance Company proprietor, John Kipkemboi Kilel, who complained that his company had been unfairly wound up.
In 2002, the company was placed under statutory management before it was wound up in 2003.
IRA had filed a suit complaining that the fee demanded by the lawyer was too high, claiming that it had no basis in the law and only sought to enrich the lawyer.
The court, however, dismissed the suit and directed the authority to compensate him.
Gatonye has been representing President Uhuru Kenyatta in the BBI case that was recently ruled on by the Court of Appeal.
Gatonye, who has over 30 years experience in law practice, was also among a team of top brains that represented the Head of State in a suit that sought to nullify his 2017 election.
The lawyer, who founded Waweru Gitonye & Co. Advocates, is among a few Kenyan laws commanding top shilling hourly rates before taking on cases.
In a past interview with Kenyans.co.ke, the Law Society of Kenya President, Nelson Havi, revealed that he charges at least Ksh2 million in legal fees.
“If I charge you anything less than Ksh2 million, consider it a discount,” he stated, justifying that a lawyer of his standing should not charge anything below that amount.
Another lawyer who has represented the President, Fred Ngatia, is also known to command a huge payout after helping corporates and organisations in court cases.
