Wamae & Allen Advocates

Managing Partner: Charles Wamae
Senior Partner: Allen Gichuhi
Number of partners: 4
Number of lawyers: 15
Languages: English, Swahili

Firm Overview:
Wamae & Allen is a full-service premier law firm based in Nairobi, Kenya, comprising of a dedicated team of skilled lawyers offering great expertise, depth and value to the practice of Law and unmatched service delivery to its clients. The firm deals with a myriad of legal issues courtesy of its broad range of clients who include and are not limited to: governments, non-governmental organizations, multinational and national companies and 15 financial institutions. The firm takes pride in being its clients’ primary source of information through its weekly legal updates, legal papers and newsletters. As the sole Kenyan member of Multilaw, the firm provides its clients with worldwide legal access by connecting them with multi-jurisdictional legal experts to facilitate cross-border transactions and disputes. The firm is also a recognised firm in the International Financial Law Review legal directory.

Main Areas of Practice:
Banking & Finance:
1 Partner; 2 Associates
■ Perfection of securities on behalf of Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited to secure banking facilities to a Multinational Chinese Government Company amounting to USD 6,500,000.00
■ Perfection of securities on behalf of a Lender in Kenya, Dubai and India to secure facilities amounting to USD 25,000,000.00 extended to the borrower for the setup of a Greenfield Steel Plant in the City of Mombasa on the Kenyan Coast
■ Perfection of securities on behalf of I&M Bank Limited to secure banking facilities to a Kenyan Company amounting to the sum of Kshs 620,000,000.00
Key Clients: I&M Bank Limited; Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited
Contacts: Charles Wamae, Janeirene Maina, Virginiah Nduta
Emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Financial Restructuring:
1 Partner; 2 Associates
■ Preparation of a deed of exclusion and an inter-lender’s agreement. Procuring discharge of securities in favour of Devji Meghji Brothers Limited to Interagro Limited and a subsequent charge of Kshs. 1,800,000,000.00 only on behalf of I&M Bank Limited
■ Preparation of consents, deed of exclusion, memorandum of release of facilities from a Lender in favour of Space and Style Limited and creation of a legal charge in favour of Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited for Kshs. 442,000,000.00
■ Preparation of a deed of assignment of receivables in favour of Safaricom Investments and preparation and registration of informal legal charges and cautions in favour of Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited for Kshs. 500,000,000.000
Key Clients: I&M Bank Limited; Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited
Contacts: Charles Wamae, Janeirene Maina, Virginiah Nduta
Emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Restructuring & Insolvency:
1 Partner; 2 Associates
■ Restructuring and Merging of a Multinational Chinese Companies Sichuan Huashi Development Company Limited and Sichuan Huashi Enterprise (East Africa) Limited, both subsidiaries of Sichuan Huashi Corporation Group, a parastatal of the Sichuan Province, Republic of China
■ Re-organisation and restructuring of Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Kenya’s business model and operational structures in order to achieve its investment objectives and align itself to its mother company Chartered Institute of Marketing UK
■ Winding up of Fresenius Medical Care Limited, Kenya and advising the client in order to avert and manage reputational liability and avoid potentially long drawn out litigation processes that could stall the reorganisation and restructuring
Key Clients: Sichuan Huashi Development Company Limited; Chartered Institute of Marketing Kenya and Fresenius Medical Care Limited, Kenya
Contacts: Charles Wamae, Janeirene Maina, Virginiah Nduta
Emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Real Estate Finance:
1 Partner; 1 Associate
■ Representation of Claycity Limited in a joint venture project between HF Development & Investment and Clay Works Limited involving the construction of 5,000 units on a parcel of land charged to a lender in Kenya. Procuring partial discharges of charge with respect to each housing unit in order to allow for registration of the subsequent sub-leases and charges over the units
■ Assignment of Receivables in accounts held in HFC Limited in favour of I&M Bank Limited and issuance of partial discharges in favour of the various purchasers of units in the development known as Precious Heights
Key Clients: Claycity Limited; I&M Bank Limited
Contacts: Charles Wamae, Virginiah Nduta
Emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Litigation:
3 Partners, 1 Associate
■ Successfully defended Barclays Bank group before the Supreme Court where a claim of £ 4 billion against the group and Kenyan government had been filed by the former employees of the defunct East African Airways
■ The firm won a major public interest litigation case in the Court of Appeal that set aside a High Court judgment that limited access to justice in land matters. The judgment unlocked hundreds of thousands of cases that could be filed in the magistrates courts
■ The firm won a major public interest case in High Court that declared all duplex charges sheets in Kenya for speeding offences as unconstitutional thus setting aside an unlawful practice since 1975
■ Successfully defended 7 injunction applications in the Court of Appeal all filed by a borrower and its guarantors in a Kshs. 2 billion loan dispute with I&M Bank Limited
■ Concluded a complex litigation shareholders dispute involving a multimillion estate known as Kihingo Village
Key Clients: Various Bank Clients and Corporate clients.
Contacts: Allen Gichuhi, Prestone Wawire, Caxstone Kigata, Leah Muhia
Emails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].

Employment:
2 Partners
■ Successfully represented Heritage Insurance Company Limited in an appeal against damages of more than Kshs. 100 Million by its former employees claiming unlawful termination. The entire high court judgment was set aside
Key Clients: Heritage Insurance Company Limited, Nairobi City Water and Sewarage Company Limited, Consolidated Bank Limited and Absa Bank
Contacts: Allen Gichuhi, Caxstone Kigata
Emails: [email protected], [email protected].

Arbitration:
1 Partners, 1 Associate
■ The firms’ Mr. Allen Gichuhi has published over 30 arbitral awards- none of which has been overturned on appeal
■ Obtained an arbitral award for 9 millers against the Kenyan Government for a claim of Kshs 2 Billion filed before the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration
■ Representation of Nairobi City Water and Sewarage Company Limited in an arbitration predicated upon a claim for breach of contract worth Kshs. 143,548,850.50 against Cellulant Kenya Limited. The matter was resolved and our client was awarded the sums sought
■ Representation of Export Trading Company Limited in an arbitration predicated upon a claim for breach of contract worth Kshs. 1,139,039,106.16 against National Cereals and Produce Board, The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the Attorney General the matter was resolved and the client was awarded the sums sought
Key Clients: Heritage Insurance Company Limited
Contacts: Allen Gichuhi, Leah Muhia
Emails: [email protected], [email protected]