Kenya Law Students Dissertations

The links below will provide you with guidance on how to write your university Dissertation.

Dissertation Topics
1. Company Law Dissertation Topics  
2. Criminal and Evidence Law Dissertation Topics 
3. Family Law Dissertation Topics  
4.  Intellectual property and tort law dissertation topics 
5. Employment Law Dissertation Topics 
6. 10 Outstanding Dissertation Topics In Law You Should Consider
7.  19 Outstanding Kenya Law Student Dissertation Topics For University 

Dissertation tips:
 How to Structure a Kenya Law Dissertation 

How to write a Law dissertation?

Writing a law dissertation needs some tips and tricks. As it is an unfamiliar topic, it often needs a huge amount of research.The law faculty provides the students with various opportunities to learn and write an academic dissertation. One could successfully lay the foundation by following some simple guidelines and instructions. Below are some tips and tricks that help you in writing a law dissertation.
*.First of all, research on the subject in which you are interested. Choose a narrow angle to select a topic that has not been previously selected. Gather as much as information about the topic using various resources and make a list of keywords that you found to be relevant. Refer to various sources that are related to the topic and note the important points from the resources.
*.Plan a rough heading based on the information collected. Generally, the contents can be finalized at the end of the process. In every point just structure a rough formula. This is one of the important tricks and a number of academics use this tip while writing theirbooks. Use appropriate headings and sub-headings wherever required. With proper subheading the writing process becomes much easier, as you can crosscheck the fragments easily and make your law dissertation error-free.*.The law dissertation paper should include elements like –title, statement ofpurpose, significance, background, description of the research, literature review, methodology and conclusion. Though planning and research plays an important role in writing a law dissertation, it is advised not to waste much time on this.
*.The law dissertation needs a straightforward approach and examination of the facts with proper references to the relevant framework. The dissertation should include logical legal arguments that are convincing and at the same time should support your conclusion. This can be achieved by analyzing the legislation, referring legal authorities, recognizing the counter arguments, ensuring relevant citations etc.
*.The next thing that comes here is, organizing the material and putting the ideas on paper. Incoherent arguments and poor sentence formation will degrade the quality of the work. Hence, one should be very careful while transferring their ideas to paper.The finishing touches like – editing, spelling, proofreading, grammar, punctuation etc.can surely improve the readability of the law dissertation. One should also check whether the bibliography, footnotes, references etc. are written in correct style or not

Tips On How To Write A Dissertation

A dissertation is difficult to write, anyone can tell you that. But, it is not impossible. It is mentally challenging and time consuming, but above all it is veryrewarding.I will not bore you with the usual advice, i.e. pick a topic that you will enjoy writing about, do not leave it last minute, and read around the topic thoroughly….

Tip No. 1: Read and write, then read…then write.Many say that you should conduct all your research first before you begin writing. Throughpersonal experience, I have foundthat this is not very useful advice. The deeper you delve into your dissertation, the more you forget points that you thought were good and details that prove you have really put sweat into your research. Do not just highlight and think that a few side notes will do. Write your notes on a word document, however minor the information appears to be. By the time you want to really begin writing the paragraphs of your chapters, you will have several pages of notes and facts which you can instantly move around and begin to form a somewhat flowing argument.

Tip No. 2: Reference as you go along or forever regret it.This does not mean you literally have to reference every single source properly, but beside every idea that is not yours, you should add a footnote that at least tells you what source it is and at what page. Examples of what your footnotes may look like:[1] The 2009 UN article on organized crime p14.[2] st08164.06_en.pdf page 38.This second example is the nameof the journal article when your laptop downloads it. When you then go back to do proper referencing, you will be able to find this article in the documents (where you should have saved the download). Essentially, the important lesson to get from this is that you should reference, do it however you may prefer, you mayeven want to print your sources and number them, meaning your footnote will look something like:[3] Article 6 page 43.Words cannot describe the pain and agony of having to go through ten thousand words of a dissertation and finding every single source that you used.

Tip No.3: Save your work, and you’ll save yourself from a heart attack.Always back up your work. This does not mean that you have to go out and buy the latest hard drive that Apple has to offer! On the contrary, send your work to yourself via email, not just the actual dissertation, but also folders which have your research.

Tip No. 4: Intro-d-uct-i-on–sMany students find it difficult to begin writing because they can’t write an introduction that is suitable for their entire dissertation. Not all students are like this; some cannot begin unless they have an introduction written down. But for those of you that are struggling with introductions, you should not be put off from writing other parts ofyour chapters. In this situation, you should write your introduction last or as you are writing the middle paragraphs of your dissertation. This is becauseit is not until you have begun writing the true substance of yourpaper that you establish exactly what order your arguments will be presented. As you are writing you will also come across research that will add new perspectives to your paper and opinions shedding light on interesting points that you may not have considered whilst you wrote your introduction at the beginning. However, this does notmean you should not know the direction of your paper from the beginning, but this is what a proposal is for, not necessarily anintroduction so if you are really finding yourself struggling with the introduction, then rest assured there is absolutely nothing wrong with writing it evenat the very end.

Tip No. 5: Do not be frightened by the word count.Although ten thousand words seems like an endless mission, dare I say it- it’s not very difficult to write ten thousand words. Thisis of course completely dependent on your research. If you have done good research, used a range of sources and delved deep into issues and identified analytical points, then itis common to actually find yourself going over the word count.

Tip No. 6: EditingMake sure you give yourself time to go through your dissertation and edit. A good piece is always the result of several drafts. It is helpful to print your work, your eyes get used to a screen and having the words on a different format can help you identify different mistakes. It is important to understand that writing a dissertation is a process. What is meant by this is that you should not be disheartened if you are not100% happy with what you write, a good dissertation requires as many drafts as possible. Edit, edit, edit, do not stop.

Company Law Dissertation Topics

Company law, also known as thelaw of business associations, is the body of law that deals with business organisations and their formation, registration, incorporation, governance, dissolution and administration. Some suggestions forcompany law dissertation topics are listed below:

*.Developing equity markets in growing economies and the importance of corporate law
*.A critical review of English companylaw and its effects on member workers and creditors
*.To investigate the essential aspectsof corporate law
*.To study business responsibilities for human rights
*.Identifying disparities in corporate governance – Theories and Realities
*.The external relations of company groups in Kenya Corporate law
*.To study corporate governance practices concerning the minority stakeholders
*.Establishing and evaluating arguments for and against “stakeholder theory”
*.The importance of non-executive directors in the British corporate legal system
*.Investigating regulation of Kenya public company

Criminal and Evidence Law Dissertation Topics

Criminal lawcan be defined as a system of law dealing with the punishment of criminals. Criminal evidence, on the other hand, concerns evidence/testimony presented in relation to a criminal charges. Evidence can be presented in various forms in order to prove and establish crimes. A wide array of topics can be covered under this subject area. To help you narrow down your research focus, some interesting topics are suggested below:
*.The politics of criminal law reform with focus on lower-court decision making
*.To understand and establish the historical relationship between human rights and Islamic criminal law
*.Investigating the rights of victims in internal criminal courts
*.The efficacy of the law of rape in order to prevent misuse by bogus victims and to protect rightful victims
*.To assess the criminal law’s approach to Omissions
*.To investigate the issues associated with identification of the distribution, extent and nature of crime
*.A critical review of the Bad Samaritan laws and the law of omissions liability
*.How international criminal law has been significant influenced by the “war on terrors”?
*.The efficacy of modern approaches to the definition of intention in International criminal law
*.The efficacy of the law of corporate manslaughter

Company Law Dissertation Topics

Company law, also known as thelaw of business associations, is the body of law that deals with business organisations and their formation, registration, incorporation, governance, dissolution and administration. Some suggestions forcompany law dissertation topics are listed below:

*.Developing equity markets in growing economies and the importance of corporate law
*.A critical review of English companylaw and its effects on member workers and creditors
*.To investigate the essential aspectsof corporate law
*.To study business responsibilities for human rights
*.Identifying disparities in corporate governance – Theories and Realities
*.The external relations of company groups in Kenya Corporate law
*.To study corporate governance practices concerning the minority stakeholders
*.Establishing and evaluating arguments for and against “stakeholder theory”
*.The importance of non-executive directors in the British corporate legal system
*.Investigating regulation of Kenya public company

Criminal and Evidence Law Dissertation Topics

Criminal lawcan be defined as a system of law dealing with the punishment of criminals. Criminal evidence, on the other hand, concerns evidence/testimony presented in relation to a criminal charges. Evidence can be presented in various forms in order to prove and establish crimes. A wide array of topics can be covered under this subject area. To help you narrow down your research focus, some interesting topics are suggested below:
*.The politics of criminal law reform with focus on lower-court decision making
*.To understand and establish the historical relationship between human rights and Islamic criminal law
*.Investigating the rights of victims in internal criminal courts
*.The efficacy of the law of rape in order to prevent misuse by bogus victims and to protect rightful victims
*.To assess the criminal law’s approach to Omissions
*.To investigate the issues associated with identification of the distribution, extent and nature of crime
*.A critical review of the Bad Samaritan laws and the law of omissions liability
*.How international criminal law has been significant influenced by the “war on terrors”?
*.The efficacy of modern approaches to the definition of intention in International criminal law
*.The efficacy of the law of corporate manslaughter

Family Law Dissertation Topics

A wide array of topics can be covered under the field of family law and the law of child. Essentially, this area of law takesinto consideration the registration of marriages, statutory rights concerning marriage, the effects of a decree, void andvoidable marriages, the impact of the Human Rights Act, the legal stature of unmarried and married individuals, and the case for reform of Kenya family law. Other areas of research include enforcing financial responsibilities in the Magistrates court, enforcing the arrears of maintenance payments, the award of maintenance, enforcing financial responsibilities to children or a child, financial orders for children, and the Children's Act. An extremely intriguing area of law that has gained tremendously popularity the modern era, some specificdissertation topicsin this area of law studies are listed below:

*.Investigating therapeutic and theoretical approaches to deal with spouse abuse in light of Kenya government’s latest research on domestic violence
*.Unmarried fathers’ access to parental responsibility – Does the current law to enforce rights and responsibilities towards children?
*.To study the criminal justice process involving a child witness
*.The children’s right to participation – Rhetoric or Reality? – A critical review of literature from the past two decades
*.To study the position of unmarried fathers in Kenya
*.Does the Kenya Family law need a major reform?
*.A critical review of the rights of married women in real estate
*.Child welfare and the role of local authorities
*.To study the legal and social foundations of parenting, civil partnership and marriage
*.To examine whether child maintenance has been positively influenced by the Children's Act?

How to Structure a Kenya Law Dissertation

The following guide outlines how to structure a LLB or LLM dissertation.

Title Page– showing the title of the dissertation and the author.

Abstract– summarising what the reader can expect to find in the dissertation. Be concise and don’t reference or use quotes in this part. This is like an advert for your work so make it excellent and carrying some weight (150 – 300 words)

Table of contents– As it implies!Introduction– This should be about 10% of the dissertation in total. So if the dissertation is 15,000 words then the introduction should be 1,000 – 1,500 words and should be a very crisp and accurate introduction of the dissertation (which of course should reflect the conclusion).

Methodology– what you are going to do and how you plan on doing it. In a legal dissertation it is most likely that qualitative research will be conducted. There are ways to do quantitative research (eg survey of cases perhaps) but it is likely that most legal dissertations will be derived from either scholarly journals/books or statute.

Literature Review– a review of relevant theory and the most recent published information on the issue. Again there are dissertations with no literature review: it really depends on the topic and whether you judge it to be necessary (eg is there a lot of published literature/theory?).

Evidence– what you have discovered and what you have concluded from it. This most not simply be descriptive but must make a considered analysis of the findings, moving towards a detailed and visionary strategy for development.

Conclusion– what you have discovered and what you have concluded from it. This must not simply be descriptive but must make a considered analysis of the findings, moving towards a detailed and visionary strategy for development.

Recommendations– In a legal dissertation I would always include these to give an indication of how analytical your mind is.

Intellectual property and tort law dissertation topics

All forms of legal injury are dealt with under the subject area of tort law. Essentially, tort law helps to establish the circumstances whereby a person may be held responsible for another person’s injury caused by either accidents on intentional acts. Intellectual property, on the other hand, covers areas of law such as copyright, patents and trademark. Trademark dissertation topics trademarks directive, trademarks act, infringement of trademarks such as revocation, invalidity and the use of similar marks. Some interesting dissertation ideas and topicsof tort law and intellectual property are suggested below to help you in your law studies.
*.The efficacy of intellectual property rights in the Kenya
*.The efficacy of Kenya copyright law concerning the needs of rights users and holders
*.The impact of intellectual property right on economic development
*.To investigate right of confidence in the Kenya
*.Do the trademark law ensure sufficient protection in Kenya ?
*.The impact of European Law on intellectual property rights in the Kenya
*.The end of the road for loss of a chance?
*.To assess the success ration of psychiatric injury claims in the Kenya
*.Should a no-fault system be implemented into Kenya law or should the law of negligence apply to personal injury claims?
*.A critical review of economic loss in 21stcentury tort law

Employment Law Dissertation Topics

Employment and equality law governs the relationship between the government, trade unions, employers and employees.  Employment and equality law in Kenya is a body of law which prevents against biasand negative attitude towards someone based on their ethnicity or race rather than work skills and experience. Some interesting dissertation topicsin this area of law are below:

*.A critical investigation of the right tofair labour practices in Kenya
*.To determine the inherent requirements of the job as a defence to unfair discrimination or aclaim
*.The role of the Kenya LabourRelations Act in providing unhappy staff sufficient protection against unfair dismissals and discriminationat workplace
*.To investigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the lives of employees with focus on unfair dismissal and discrimination
*.To assess ethnic discrimination in Kenya : Derogations from the ban on discrimination – Sexual harassment – Equal pay for work of equal value
*.To study the international employment contract – Regulation, perception and reality
*.To identify and discuss challenges associated with equality at work
*.A study of the legal aspects of the relationship between employer and employee
*.How influential is the role of trade unions in Kenya employment law?
*.A critical review of discrimination policies in Kenya

10 Outstanding Dissertation Topics In Law You Should Consider

ConsiderTo any student of law, the vastness of the field of law is vividly evident. There are numerous variations to the study of law, these may include: philosophical legal theory, common law, religious law, civil law, international law, criminal law, contract law, tort law, property law, trust law et cetera. After a certain amount of time spent in law school, every law student begins to see the consideration and the application of the comprehensive legal frameworks in the everyday, mundane and humdrum life events that would otherwise have seemed commonplace. An excellent idea, therefore, for law school dissertations is to take into consideration one such common event that often transpires in daily routines, and assess the legal principle that engender it.

What Do Law Schools Look For In A Dissertation
Law is practical and comprehensive, and significantly scholarly. Ergo, a law school dissertation should have compelling essays written after careful research and homework that not only considers the legality of the subject matter, but offers a thesis with keen insights, and should additionally offer solutions is a problem ispresented. Furthermore, one should be able to adequately defend the work produced.

10 outstanding dissertation topics in law you should consider
1.The impact of war on terror on international criminal law and its implications on the state and national legal framework and its constitutionality.
2.A comparative analysis of the English Sales law and the Vienna Convention OnContracts For The Sale Of International Goods and its implications for pragmatic drafting of international contracts.
3.The role of police as a collaborative government agency that works in an inter-agency capacity to facilitate the proactive apprehension of enemy combatant or enemy entities and agentsand its constitutionality.
4.The implications of the right to life and the silent practices of euthanasia in hospitals and hospices, and the moralityinvolved in the apparent violation of the right to live.
5.The legality of the right to bear arms while considering the original context in which the constitution was amended to give the citizens the right.
6.The legality, morality and ethical obligations involved in the hostile takeovers of undervalued and/or non-performing assets.
7.A critical analysis of the outsourcing policies of private sector banks under international and tort laws.
8.A case study of the criminal detention system and the apparent anomalies with gender/race profiling of suspects.
9.A critique on the freedoms of citizens and their implications.
10.The need for reforms in cyber laws to maintain net-neutrality.

How to Structure a Kenya Law Dissertation

The following guide outlines how to structure a LLB or LLM dissertation.

Title Page– showing the title of the dissertation and the author.

Abstract– summarising what the reader can expect to find in the dissertation. Be concise and don’t reference or use quotes in this part. This is like an advert for your work so make it excellent and carrying some weight (150 – 300 words)

Table of contents– As it implies!Introduction– This should be about 10% of the dissertation in total. So if the dissertation is 15,000 words then the introduction should be 1,000 – 1,500 words and should be a very crisp and accurate introduction of the dissertation (which of course should reflect the conclusion).

Methodology– what you are going to do and how you plan on doing it. In a legal dissertation it is most likely that qualitative research will be conducted. There are ways to do quantitative research (eg survey of cases perhaps) but it is likely that most legal dissertations will be derived from either scholarly journals/books or statute.

Literature Review– a review of relevant theory and the most recent published information on the issue. Again there are dissertations with no literature review: it really depends on the topic and whether you judge it to be necessary (eg is there a lot of published literature/theory?).

Evidence– what you have discovered and what you have concluded from it. This most not simply be descriptive but must make a considered analysis of the findings, moving towards a detailed and visionary strategy for development.

Conclusion– what you have discovered and what you have concluded from it. This must not simply be descriptive but must make a considered analysis of the findings, moving towards a detailed and visionary strategy for development.

Recommendations– In a legal dissertation I would always include these to give an indication of how analytical your mind is.

19 Outstanding Kenya Law Student Dissertation Topics For University

Law school is tough; there’s no debate on that subject. One of the biggest hurdles in completing a law degree is choosing a topic for your dissertation. Once you have a topic, you’ll have to write an in-depth proposal to sell your idea to your dissertation committee.One of the hardest elements of the process is trimming down your idea into a topic that is manageable. You’ll need tomake certain that your topic is germane to your field of study, of course. Don’t do your dissertation on divorce law if you’re studying corporate law.Here are 20 topics from various niches of the field of law. Look them over; perhaps you’ll find a spark of inspiration for your own dissertation:
1.In what ways has the decision in Harrison v Gibson altered the law on the certainty of intention?
2.Trustee powers of investment: A critical examination of the courts’ consideration of financial benefits
3.Examine the validity of the presumption that resulting trusts and advancement have gained defunct status and should be abolished.
4.Examine the attitude of the courts, as demonstrated in relevant rulings, toward trusts espousing political purposes.
5.Discuss the prevailing attitude among journalists and media entities that theirFirst Amendment Right to free speech should be given special protection and latitude by reason of their role in advancing the public interest.
6.Discuss the process of judicial review from a strong vs weak perspective.
7.Examine the conflict between civil liberties and public safety in the arena of anti-terrorism legislation.
8.Examine the moral and legal issues surrounding “late-term” abortion procedures.
9.Discuss ramifications of amendments to Roe v Wade to provide adequate protections to the rights of the father.
10.Examine the potential legal ramification of stem cell research to include human embryos cultivated forprofit.
11.Discuss the legal ramifications of breaches of authoritative norms in general international law.
12.Critically examine the relationship between national law and international law.
13.Discuss the role of cultural norms andcustoms in the development of international criminal law.
14.Examine the conflict between general business law and corporate trade secrets.
15.Discuss the viability of the enforcement of benefit sharing as a tool for regulating aspects of intellectual property rights.
16.Discuss the current copyright system and its ability to effectively respond tothe challenges posed by the internet and digitalization of intellectual property.
17.Examine the central rationale for trademark protection as a means for businesses to protect their brand value vs public interest as a primary consideration.
18.Discuss the law’s response to the effects of domestic violence on male victims.
19.Examine the law’s governing authorityof the state to intervene in the private lives of citizens when the welfare of a child is in question.