Uproar as Council of Legal Education (CLE) Hikes ATP Exam Fees by 100% Amid Budget Crisis
Uproar as CLE Hikes ATP Exam Fees by 100% Amid Budget Crisis
A wave of outrage is sweeping through Kenya’s legal education sector as the Council of Legal Education (CLE) moves to double examination fees for the Advocates Training Programme (ATP), sparking protests and fears that aspiring lawyers from low-income backgrounds will be locked out of the profession.
Under the new fee structure, law students sitting for the ATP bar examinations face significant increases. The exam fee per paper has risen from KSh 5,000 to KSh 10,000, effectively doubling the cost. Resits per paper have been hiked from KSh 10,000 to KSh 20,000, while remarks per paper have jumped from KSh 15,000 to KSh 30,000. For a full ATP examination comprising nine papers, the total exam fees now stand at KSh 90,000, a sharp increase from the previous KSh 45,000. This is on top of the KSh 145,000 tuition fees charged by the Kenya School of Law (KSL).
The fee hike comes in the wake of a severe financial crisis at the CLE. According to a report by the Working Committee on Legal Education Reforms, the CLE’s budget was slashed by KSh 202 million in 2024. The institution no longer receives financial support from the National Treasury and has stated that the current fee structure is no longer sustainable. The committee, chaired by Christine Agimba, formally recommended that the CLE “consider increasing the examination fees” and “consider increasing fees for the services offered in its regulatory mandate”. The report warned that if no action was taken, fees could surge even further.
The fee increases have triggered massive backlash from law students. In April 2026, students planned large-scale protests outside the CLE offices to voice their frustrations. This followed months of growing discontent over what students describe as “deliberate efforts by the CLE to mark down their tests” and delays in admissions. Students have also raised concerns about the high cost of resits and remarks. Data presented in court showed that the institution profited from exam failures, charging KSh 15,000 for re-marking and KSh 10,000 per re-sit. The new fees double these already burdensome costs.
The fee hike comes at a time when the Kenya School of Law has already scrapped its tuition loan programme due to funding cuts, removing what the committee described as “the only financial safety net for struggling students”. Thousands of aspiring lawyers from low-income backgrounds now risk being priced out of the legal profession. The committee’s report noted that “even students who meet all requirements risk being priced out due to the looming fee hikes”.
The crisis has exposed deeper systemic problems in Kenya’s legal education sector, including clashing legal mandates between the KSL Act and the CLE, internal mismanagement, and exclusionary policies that have stalled the dreams of thousands of law graduates. Legal experts behind the report have warned that unless urgent action is taken, the quality of legal education in Kenya will decline and the country will produce poorly trained advocates.
The committee has recommended that the government reinstate financial support to both KSL and CLE to enable them to fulfil their mandate without burdening students with increased fees. However, with no indication that government support will return, the burden is likely to remain on students. For now, law students face a stark choice: find a way to afford the doubled fees or abandon their dreams of joining the legal profession.
This is a developing story. Check the Council of Legal Education’s official website for the latest updates.
