Jennifer Mbaluto
Jennifer Mbaluto is a Kenyan corporate lawyer and partner at Clifford Chance LLP in London, where she co-heads the firm’s fast-growing East Africa practice. Admitted as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and as a solicitor in England & Wales, she advises multinationals, private-equity funds, and DFIs on complex, cross-border M&A, joint ventures, and restructurings, with a focus on technology, telecoms, and renewable energy. Recent headline deals include Safaricom-led M-Pesa Africa’s share swap with Vodafone, the US $500 million sale of a pan-African data-centre portfolio, and a Series-C investment in a Nairobi-based fintech that valued the company at over US $1 billion.
Since joining Clifford Chance from another Magic-Circle firm in 2018, Mbaluto has turned a two-lawyer East Africa desk into a multimillion-dollar practice that services clients across Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda, all without opening a bricks-and-mortar office. She also spearheads the firm’s Africa Tech Group, producing thought-leadership on data protection, e-commerce regulation, and ESG trends.
Deeply committed to social impact, Mbaluto chairs Clifford Chance’s pro-bono committee for Africa, directing an annual £1 million programme that supports legal-aid clinics in Rwanda, climate-resilience projects on Lake Victoria, and capacity-building for women-led start-ups. A mentor in the Africa Women Lawyers Alliance, she routinely coaches young advocates preparing for international moot-court competitions.
Her achievements have earned her places on Business Daily Africa’s Top 40 Under 40 Women list and Financial Times’ “Lawyers to Watch.” Outside the boardroom, she is an avid marathon runner and volunteers as a STEM tutor for Nairobi high-school girls.