The Gladiators

Without commitment, you’ll never start. But more importantly, without consistency, you’ll never finish. Always remember that ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship. Therefore, keep moving, keep growing & keep learning.

Ian Nyanchoga

Deputy to the Managing Partner

Bio

  • Ian’s demeanor is calm, warm, approachable, and confident.He has a wonderful way of articulating his words that draw in the listener. Ian believes in preparation as the foundation of his success. He completely immerses himself in all aspects of each case before giving advice and proceeding to litigation.

    His wide breadth of knowledge continuously allows him to look at complex commercial issues from different angles, solve potential issues before they arise, and offer tailored legal advice. This has ingrained his reputation amongst our clients as a sagacious and solution-oriented lawyer.

Expertise

    • Insolvency
    • Arbitration
    • Employment Law
    • Banking and Financial Law

Professional Background

    • Member of the Law Society of Kenya
    • Member of the East African Law Society
    • Member of the Association of Young Arbitrators
    • Member of the Judiciary Bar Bench Committee
    • Advocate of the High Court of Kenya (2018)
    • Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (2015)

Awards

Published as a contributing author to the United Kingdom Lexology legal chapter on “Getting the Deal Through 2019” on litigation practice and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in Kenya.

Key Achievements

Banking and Finance

  • Representing a local civil and construction company before the Nairobi High Court – Commercial & Tax Division and successfully obtaining prohibitory orders against an international credit lender from abusing its contractual bargaining power and levying unconscionable interest rates on a facility exceeding $10 million USD; and
  • Representing several local and international financial institutions in commercial disputes in both subordinate and superior courts arising from breach of contractual loan facilities.

Corporate Commercial Law

  • Advising the Kenyan government through the Privatisation Commission (as part of a consortium of transactional advisers) in a legal due diligence exercise and acquisition transaction of a state-owned financial institution involving a proposed rights issue of Kshs. 2,500,000,000.00 structured to achieve privatisation;
  • Advising a locally-based society and a group of international contractors based in Singapore on a cross-border joint venture agreement structured to undertake one of the largest housing projects in Kenya under the Affordable Housing Program.

Employment Law

  • Conducting periodic trainings and offering advice to local and multi-national organisations on all aspects of employment and labour law, including drafting and reviewing employment contracts, human resource policies, codes of conduct, consultancy agreements and collective bargaining agreements to ensure compliance.

Insolvency Law

  • Successfully advising and defending a retail chain of international hypermarkets in winding up proceedings before the Nairobi Commercial High Court and on the first Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) transaction in Kenya restructuring a debt book exceeding Kshs. 2,000,000,000.00.
  • Successfully advising and representing an international private security firm and an international pharmaceutical equipment manufacturer in insolvency proceedings before the Nairobi Commercial High Court in the recovery of corporate debt of Kshs. 78,000,000.00 against corporate debtors; and
  • Successfully advising a local equipment and leasing company in a court-annexed mediation insolvency dispute challenging the administrators’ final dividend payment structure of ten per cent against an acknowledged pre-insolvency debt exceeding USD 50 million.

Succession

  • Successfully advising and representing an estate on a settlement of a highly contested succession case before the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Kenya and valued over 15 Billion Kenyan shillings.

Public Interest

  • Successfully undertaking public interest litigation before the Nairobi Constitutional High Court in challenging the constitutionality of certain legislative provisions limiting corporate participation in criminal proceedings;
  • Assisting a local association of manufacturers in developing a series of reports for adoption on viable producer responsibility schemes for the effective and sustainable management of post-consumer packaging waste in Kenya;
  • Assisting local civil societies in the oil and gas sector in mapping out historical parliamentary records and their public participation in the development of energy and petroleum laws in Kenya; and
  • Providing pro bono legal support to several local and international non-governmental organizations involved in social change within the African continent by conducting legal research and developing an information database on various topical issues ranging from orphanage trafficking, terrorism, and child protection.