By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
Willy Mutunga was sworn in as the first Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya on June 20, 2011, under the country’s 2010 Constitution.
Barely months in office, he took a revolutionary step with the enforcement of a reform policy that historically altered Kenya’s legal practice.
Mutunga moved Kenya’s judiciary away from colonial-era regalia, including wigs, robes and grandiose forms of address.
Under him, judges dropped their wigs and the honorific ‘My Lord’ in favour of ‘Your Honour,’ while lawyers were allowed to wear sober-coloured suits without robes or wigs.
