Prof. Migai Akech is a distinguished legal scholar at the University of Nairobi and was shortlisted for the position of Judge of the Court of Appeal. Akech is a specialist in international trade regulation and competition law, and has a law firm that primarily practices international law.
He holds several law degrees from the University of Nairobi, Cambridge University, and New York University.
Migai has extensive experience in governance, constitutional law, and administrative reforms across Africa.
Migai Akech’s Early Life and Education
Migai was born in January 1972, Homabay County. He attended several primary schools in Nyeri, Kanjira, Muhoroni, and Homa Bay.
He studied at Starehe Boys’ Centre and School for his secondary education.
Migai joined the University of Nairobi, pursuing a degree in Law. In 1995, he graduated with a First Class Honors Degree.
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Following his exemplary achievement, he proceeded to St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge University, in the United Kingdom, to pursue a master’s degree in Commercial Law, and graduated in 1997.
Akech enrolled at New York University School of Law as a Hauser Global Scholar for a master’s degree in Trade Regulation, where he graduated in 1999 and later earned a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) in 2004.
Migai was offered the prestigious Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship by The International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in the United States, which he took up from October 2009 to February 2010.
His research areas include administrative law, constitutional governance, accountability, and the rule of law, with an emphasis on the practical impact of legal scholarship on society.
His research at NED focused on the use of Administrative Law to constrain government power in Africa. He wrote his five articles, and his best article is titled ‘Constraining Government Power in Africa’, which was published in the prestigious Journal of Democracy in January 2011.
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Career Background
Akech was admitted to the bar and has served as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya since 1998.
After completing his doctoral studies in New York, Akech returned to Kenya to focus on teaching and research at the University of Nairobi, joining as an Assistant Lecturer in 1999.
He rose steadily through the ranks, becoming Lecturer in 2003, Senior Lecturer in 2006, Associate Professor in 2011, and Professor in 2023.
From 2018 to 2020, he served as a Governance Expert for the African Union’s African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), where he monitored governance practices and led the development of the 2019 and 2021 Africa Governance Reports (AGR).
Migai Akech has also consulted as an expert on international trade law, policy development, policy analysis, rule of law, governance, devolution, anti-corruption, accountability for major organizations including the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), International Development Law Organization (IDLO), World Bank, Open Society, and German Technical Cooperation.
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