James Ngotho Kariuki
James Ngotho Kariuki, a Kenyan lawyer has made arbitration his courtroom of choice, turning corporate deadlocks, cross-border joint-venture spats, and construction stand-offs into enforceable solutions without a judge’s gavel. After cutting his teeth on complex commercial claims at DLA Piper Africa (IKM Advocates), he rose to lead multi-jurisdictional panels that balance New York law with Nairobi realities and keep nine-figure projects on track. His case load spans energy, telecoms, and sovereign contracts, and his speed at distilling voluminous evidence into tight memorials earned him Africa’s Young Arbitration Practitioner of the Year title in 2022.
Kariuki is one of the continent’s youngest triple fellows of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators, and the Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand, credentials that see him shuttle between hearings in Lagos, Kuala Lumpur, and Wellington while mentoring Kenyan juniors through CIArb’s “Young Members” network. He is now drafting a model arbitration clause tailored to African fintech deals, pushing for mediation windows in public-procurement contracts, and co-authoring a handbook on third-party funding to widen access to justice. With every settled dispute he advances a simple thesis: efficient, culturally tuned ADR is not a luxury for global giants but a necessity for Africa’s accelerating commerce.