Law School Dean and IP Scholar Nominated to Kenya’s Court of Appeal

Kenyan media report indicate that Prof. James Otieno-Odek is among a list of 16 candidates nominated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to serve in the Court of Appeal, Kenya’s second highest court in the land after the newly-constituted Supreme Court. It may be recalled that Prof. Odek had previously been shortlisted for the position of Supreme Court Judge but his candidature was unsuccessful.

This blogger is glad that the government of Kenya has finally recognised Odek’s wealth of knowledge and experience. A graduate of Yale and Toronto Law Schools, Prof. Odek has over 25 years of postdoctoral work behind him and has been actively involved in research, teaching and policy formulation at national, regional and international level. Many will recall that Prof Odek was a candidate for the post of Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) back in 2008. Previously he has been Managing Director of the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) and was the Chairman of the WIPO Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. He is currently the Dean of the University of Nairobi School of Law and taught this blogger international intellectual property law at LL.M.

IPKenya hopes that the good prof’s nomination will sail through to presidential appointment. Odek’s presence in the Court of Appeal is a welcomed step in law reform and creating a robust jurisprudence in IP for Kenya.