Prof. Tom Odhiambo Ojienda, SC

Prof. Tom Odhiambo Ojienda, SC, is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with a distinguished legal career spanning over 32 years. He is one of the few Kenyan lawyers to have attained the prestigious rank of Senior Counsel, conferred in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the advancement of law and justice.
He holds a Doctor of Laws (LL.D) from the University of South Africa, a Master of Laws (LL.M) from King’s College London, a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the University of Nairobi, a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law, and a Diplôme d’Études en Langue Française from Alliance Française de Paris.
As a robust litigation counsel, Prof. Ojienda, SC, has successfully handled numerous landmark cases before the Supreme Court of Kenya, across fields including Land and Environment Law, Electoral Law, Commercial Law, Family Law, and Constitutional Law. He represents individuals, State agencies, national and county governments, private corporations, and multilateral entities before Kenyan courts, from subordinate courts to the Supreme Court, as well as before international tribunals such as the ICC, LCIA, and ICSID.
Fluent in English, French, and Kiswahili, Prof. Ojienda, SC, is able to represent clients across jurisdictions with cultural and linguistic versatility.
Beyond practice, Prof. Ojienda is an ardent scholar and legal educator who taught at Moi University for over a decade, where he coordinated moot courts, clinical legal education, and curricular development. He has edited and published over ten books and more than thirty peer-reviewed journal articles across diverse areas of law, and presented scholarly papers at international conferences in Africa, Europe, and the Americas. His consultancies have spanned agencies such as the World Bank, USAID, UNIFEM, and various national commissions and tribunals.
He served as Commissioner in the Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC), Chair of the Land Acquisition Compensation Tribunal, and consultant to the Njonjo and Ndung’u Land Commissions. He was instrumental in the National Land Policy Formulation Process, culminating in Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2009, which laid the groundwork for Kenya’s post-2010 land reform framework.
Prof. Ojienda, SC, is the immediate former Representative of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and currently serves as Senator for Kisumu County.
Through his scholarship, advocacy, and leadership, Prof. Ojienda continues to shape Kenya’s jurisprudence, institutional governance, and the broader discourse on law and justice in Africa.