Nairobi City County has saved an estimated Sh8.48 billion after shifting more of its legal work to advocates employed by the county, reducing the need to hire private law firms.
A report by the County Assembly's Justice and Legal Affairs Committee says the move has lowered legal expenses, improved the handling of court cases and helped protect public funds.
The report, covering the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, says the county expanded its legal department in 2025 by hiring 60 more advocates. The recruitment raised the number of in-house lawyers to 84 as Governor Johnson Sakaja's administration sought to reduce spending on outsourced legal services and deal with rising legal costs.
According to the committee, the larger legal team strengthened the county's ability to defend cases and manage litigation more effectively. It says relying on internal lawyers reduced the amount of money that would have been spent on external legal representation.
During the period under review, the county concluded 174 court cases. Out of these, 84 were handled by in-house advocates, with 47 decided in favour of the county, giving the legal team a success rate of 56 per cent.
The committee also found that the county's legal department reduced bills of costs that had been presented by outside law firms, including Prof. Tom Ojienda and Associates. This helped lower the county's financial obligations arising from legal disputes.
Despite the savings, the report shows Nairobi City County still has pending legal liabilities estimated at Sh13.41 billion, pointing to the large number of claims that remain unresolved.
Former Acting County Attorney Christine Ireri also informed the committee that a verification exercise carried out during her tenure helped the county avoid paying another Sh22 billion in disputed legal claims.
The committee says the county's decision to strengthen its internal legal team has improved the management of court matters while reducing the financial burden that comes with hiring external lawyers.