Sheria Smart

Legal Intelligence. Demystifying the Law.

Haki Yako. Mkononi Mwako.
LexAI online

The law is yours.
Now you can understand it.

Most Kenyans carry rights they have never read, protections they have never claimed, and remedies the law has already given them that no one ever explained. Sheria Smart changes that. Plain English and Kiswahili explanations of the Constitution, the Acts of Parliament, and the self help procedures the law has already set out for the citizen who chooses to use them.

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Two professionals in a legal consultation setting
What the platform does

Three instruments, each with a particular use.

There is no shortage of talk about Kenyan law. The shortage has always been in explanations a real person can actually use. Sheria Smart was built around one question: if the law already gives a citizen a right to stand somewhere, why should they not know about it? Three tools, built around that question.

Legal information assistant

LexAI

A conversational assistant powered by artificial intelligence. Ask a question on Kenyan law in either of the platform languages, and LexAI returns a plain language answer with a citation to the relevant statute or provision. Every answer carries a directive to verify the underlying source at kenyalaw.org before acting on it.

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Editorial library

Briefings

A growing library of long form essays on the questions Kenyans most commonly face when the law arrives at the door. Each piece is researched against the primary statute, written in the language a non lawyer can follow, and edited to survive being read on a phone at the moment of crisis.

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Self representation toolkit

The Toolkit

Templates and step by step procedure for the forums where Kenyan law expressly contemplates the citizen appearing in person. The Small Claims Court for civil matters below the statutory jurisdictional threshold. The tenancy tribunals. Wage recovery complaints. The instruments draw from the procedure rules the legislature itself wrote.

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Where Sheria Smart helps

Self representation, where the law permits it.

Sheria Smart is clear about where it helps and where it does not. The self help tools apply in forums where the law already permits a person to appear without an advocate, principally the Small Claims Court under Section 20 of the Small Claims Court Act. For every matter outside that scope, the platform points you directly to a qualified LSK advocate. That is not a limitation. That is honesty.

Where the law permits self representation

Small Claims Court for civil disputes up to one million shillings. The Rent Restriction Tribunal and the Business Premises Rent Tribunal. Alternative dispute resolution and mediation. Basic civil matters in the Magistrate's Court. Complaints to the Labour Officer for wage recovery under section 47 of the Employment Act, No. 11 of 2007.

Where you should engage an advocate

High Court litigation. Court of Appeal and Supreme Court matters. Serious criminal proceedings. Family law disputes, land matters, and the categories the Small Claims Court Act expressly excludes at section 12(5). Anything where expert evidence or professional advocacy is the determining factor.

A founding principle

Access to justice
is not charity.

It is the work the Constitution demands of those who built the architecture.

More than a decade has passed since Kenya promulgated a Constitution unusually generous in the rights it conferred on the ordinary citizen, and yet a stubborn fact persists. Most Kenyans cannot articulate, with any confidence, what their own Bill of Rights actually says. The worker whose salary has been withheld does not know that the Employment Act, 2007 contemplates a written demand and an accessible path to the Employment and Labour Relations Court. The tenant facing eviction is rarely told that thirty days of properly served notice is the floor under the Distress for Rent (Recovery) Act, Cap. 293, not the ceiling. The person arrested without warrant rarely realises that Article 49 of the Constitution requires their production before a court within twenty four hours.

The distance between what the Constitution promises and what an ordinary Kenyan experiences when the law arrives at their door is, in practice, where injustice does its quiet work. Sheria Smart exists to narrow that distance.

The platform translates the operative statute into the languages the public actually speaks, sets out the procedural steps the legislature itself prescribed, and routes any matter that genuinely calls for an advocate to the LSK directory or to the National Legal Aid Service. Nothing on this platform is offered as a substitute for counsel. What it does instead is make sure that, where the law has already given the citizen a place to stand, the citizen knows enough to stand there.

2+
Platform languages
1MKES
Small Claims jurisdictional ceiling
24h
Article 49 production limit
100%
Citations verifiable at kenyalaw.org
Editorial position

What Sheria Smart stands for.

“Access to justice ought not to turn on a household's income or its postal code. Every Kenyan is entitled to know the rights the Constitution guarantees them, to understand the statutes that govern their daily life, and, where the law has provided the forum, to act on what they know without waiting for permission.”

The Constitution promises one thing on paper. The experience of an ordinary Kenyan when a dispute arrives at the door, when an arrest is made on the road, when an eviction notice is taped to the gate, is often quite another matter. The platform was built into that gap.

Where Kenyan law has given the citizen a forum to stand in, the platform translates the relevant statute into a language the citizen can read and walks them through the procedure the legislature itself prescribed. Where the matter calls for professional advocacy, the platform directs the user to the LSK advocate directory or to free legal aid through the National Legal Aid Service. The platform does not appear, file, or speak for any user in any forum. The Kenyan does that. The platform's contribution is to make certain the Kenyan does not walk into the room uninformed.

Read the full position
Legal Representation

When your matter needs
a qualified advocate.

Sheria Smart gives you the information. But some matters require more than information. They require professional advocacy, someone admitted to the Roll of Advocates of the High Court of Kenya, holding a current practising certificate from the Law Society of Kenya, and accountable to the LSK's disciplinary machinery if things go wrong.

Under Section 9 of the Advocates Act, Cap. 16, only advocates who are so admitted may represent parties in court, draft the reserved documents listed in Section 34(1), or give legal advice for a reward. No app, no chatbot, and no paralegal can lawfully do those things in their place. Anyone who suggests otherwise is misleading you.

Before you retain an advocate, verify that their name appears on the current Roll and that their practising certificate is valid for the current year. The Law Society of Kenya maintains the official public register.

Search the LSK Advocate Directory Visit the Law Society of Kenya

Sheria Smart does not endorse any advocate or law firm. Sheria Smart does not guarantee that a specific advocate identified through our platform is duly registered with the Law Society of Kenya. All users are encouraged to make independent verification of a lawyer's standing with the Law Society of Kenya, and of their authorisation to practise law in Kenya, through the Law Society of Kenya resources at lsk.or.ke. Users are solely responsible for selecting and verifying their own legal counsel.

The Law Society of Kenya is the statutory body established under the Advocates Act, Cap. 16, that regulates the legal profession in Kenya, maintains the Roll of Advocates, and sets professional and ethical standards for all advocates practising in Kenya. Sheria Smart respects and actively supports the LSK's regulatory role.

Two advocates reviewing legal documents together
How to verify an advocate before you retain them
Step 1, Search the Roll

Go to lsk.or.ke and search the advocate's full name. The Roll lists every person currently admitted to practise law in Kenya.

Step 2, Confirm current certificate

A practising certificate must be renewed each year. An advocate whose certificate has lapsed may not lawfully take instructions for reward, regardless of their admission to the Roll.

Step 3, Ask for a fee agreement

Any fees charged must comply with the Advocates Remuneration Order. Ask for a written fee agreement before work begins. You have the right to request a fee note and to have fees taxed by the court if disputed.

Legal professionals discussing a matter with technology tools
For Advocates

Your clients arrive better prepared.
Your practice benefits.

An informed client understands the process, arrives with organised facts, and engages more productively with their advocate. Sheria Smart is the preparation. The advocate is the professional.

Read the note to advocates
People reviewing legal documents and discussing their rights
Self Representation

The law has always allowed it.
Now you have a guide.

Section 20 of the Small Claims Court Act, No. 2 of 2016, has always permitted a party to appear and conduct their own case. The legislature made that choice deliberately. This platform honours it.

Open the application
On your phone

Install the app.
Carry the law in your pocket.

Sheria Smart installs cleanly on iPhone, Android, and desktop. No app store, no download wait. Once installed, it opens like any other app on your home screen, works offline for cached briefings, and looks and feels exactly like a native application. There is no browser bar, no address line, and no advertising. It is yours.

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iPhone or iPad

Open the app in Safari. Tap the Share button at the bottom. Choose Add to Home Screen. Done.

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Android

Open the app in Chrome. Chrome will offer to install it. Or open the menu and choose Install app.

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Desktop

Chrome, Edge, or Brave on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Look for the install icon in the address bar.

Open the app to install

Once installed, share the app with friends and family directly from inside it. Tap the menu, choose Share Sheria Smart, and pick WhatsApp, SMS, email, or any other app on your phone. Recipients open a clean app, exactly as you did.

Begin with the question that brought you here.

Open LexAI. Ask in English or Kiswahili. The free tier gives you three questions every day, no card required.

Open the application Read the briefings
Contact

Get in touch.

Questions, partnerships, or support. Send a message and we will reply by email, or write to [email protected]

This form is for general enquiries and is not legal advice; nothing you send creates an advocate client relationship.