Profile Summary
Eric Gumbo is the Managing Partner of G&A Africa and a veteran Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with more than two decades of trial and advisory experience.
- Practice areas
- Dispute Resolution · Banking & Finance · Projects, Energy & Infrastructure
- Office
- Nairobi Office
Over the past 20 years, Eric has transformed G&A Africa from a grassroots practice founded in Eldoret into a full-service, Pan-African powerhouse, driving its expansion across cross-border commercial transactions, sovereign finance, and complex dispute resolution.
Renowned for handling matters of national significance, Eric has represented Kenya’s election management body in the 2013, 2017, and 2022 presidential election petitions before the Supreme Court of Kenya. His public law expertise extends to advising the Attorney General on landmark matters and representing the National Assembly in high-stakes constitutional proceedings.
In commercial practice and capital markets, Eric advises on Kenya’s most transformative mandates. He represents corporations, directors, executives, special committees, financial institutions and asset managers in their highest stakes matters. Eric served as counsel to the National Treasury on a historic $1 billion Eurobond buyback concurrent with a $1.5 billion dual-tranche sovereign issuance, among the largest finance transactions led by a local firm, and advised on the 2026 Kenya Pipeline Company IPO, the nation’s first initial public offering in fifteen years. In infrastructure, he successfully represented KenGen in a major Public-Private Partnership dispute involving over $320 million.
Ranked by The Legal 500 for Dispute Resolution, Eric balances his active practice with key governance roles. He sits on the Board of Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Limited, serves on the Council for Legal Education as the Law Society of Kenya's representative, and chairs the Legal Aid Centre for Eldoret.
His commitment to continuous professional mastery is backed by executive studies at Yale, Duke, CIArb, and HKUST.
Expertise
- Dispute Resolution & Arbitration
- Constitutional & Public Law
- Capital Markets & Sovereign Finance
- Commercial & Corporate Advisory
- Pan-African Strategy & Institutional Leadership
Industries
- Government & Public Sector
- Financial Services & Capital Markets
- Energy, Mining & Infrastructure
- Technology & Telecommunications
Experience
Representative matters
- Kenya's elections management body, on the Presidential Election Petitions arising from the 2013, 2017 and 2022 elections — representing all three petitions before the Supreme Court of Kenya, and present at every consequential electoral dispute of Kenya's constitutional era.
- Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), on a dispute before the Public-Private Partnership Petitions Committee relating to a project valued at over US$320 million.
- The Attorney General, in consolidated constitutional petitions concerning Kenya's regulatory framework for genetically modified organisms and the Government's decision on the importation, cultivation and commercialisation of GMOs.
- The National Assembly, in constitutional petitions concerning the removal and appointment of senior constitutional office holders, including matters of significant constitutional and institutional importance.
- The Government of Kenya, through the National Treasury, as legal adviser on a US$1 billion Eurobond buyback and concurrent US$1.5 billion dual-tranche Eurobond issuance (US$750 million 7.875% Notes due 2033 and US$750 million 8.80% Notes due 2038), forming part of the Government's broader liability management and sovereign debt strategy.
- Appointed to the presidential panel established to recruit Kenya's Auditor-General.
Firm leadership & landmark mandates
As Managing Partner, Eric has set the strategic direction behind the Firm's landmark mandates over two decades, including:
- Safaricom PLC listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, which became the exchange's most valuable stock, with a market capitalisation of approximately KES 1.21 trillion, over 34% of total market equity.
- Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC) IPO, Kenya's first government-led public listing in nearly two decades, raising over Ksh 112 billion at more than 100% oversubscription.
- Kenya's 2024 Eurobond issuance, a transaction credited with stabilising the shilling and averting sovereign default.
- One of East Africa's largest mining arbitrations, and a portfolio of over 100 completed arbitrations across commercial and construction law.
- Kenya's WorldCoin data-privacy litigation, one of the most significant technology-regulation cases in East Africa, involving constitutional rights, data sovereignty and the conduct of a global technology company.
- The Firm's contribution to the drafting of the Legal Aid Act, 2016.
- The Firm's Pan-African expansion and strategic alliances, including its Middle East corridor through a UAE strategic alliance and partnerships spanning Africa, the UK, the US, Dubai and China.
Pro Bono & Board Appointments
Eric chairs a 15-plus year partnership between G&A Africa and the Legal Aid Centre for Eldoret, providing pro bono legal representation to HIV/AIDS-affected indigent clients. G&A lawyers actively support these cases in court, reflecting a sustained commitment to access to justice beyond the Firm's commercial practice.
Board and civic appointments
- Council Member, Council for Legal Education, representing the Law Society of Kenya.
- Board Member, Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Limited.
- Chairperson, Legal Aid Centre for Eldoret
Awards & Recognition
- The Legal 500 — Dispute Resolution, Kenya: recognised 2023
- Band 3 ranking in 2024
Qualifications
- Financial Markets — Yale University
- Arbitration — Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Kenya Branch)
- Fintech Law & Policy — Duke University
- Green Business Strategy — Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (ongoing)
Professional Memberships
- Law Society of Kenya
- East Africa Law Society
