Profile
Nelson Matendo Nkari is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, a software engineer and the Founding and Managing Partner of Nelson Nkari & Company Advocates. He advises businesses and institutions on technology transactions, data protection and the legal responsibilities that accompany digital services. His work brings legal judgment into the decisions made by founders, technology teams and executive management, from procuring software to managing information across borders.
Nelson combines legal training with the experience of designing, building and securing digital systems. He understands how technology businesses operate, how their products create value and where technical decisions expose them to legal risk. For clients, that means advice shaped by the realities of their business. He translates product requirements and commercial objectives into legal strategies that support growth, protect intellectual property and give each party clear responsibilities. His technical background also helps him identify risks that can remain hidden in a document-only review, including dependencies on third-party systems, security weaknesses and unintended uses of customer data.
This understanding carries through into the detail of an engagement. A service-level obligation can be considered against how an application is supported, a data-processing clause against the movement of information, and a security commitment against the controls available to the organisation.
Technology law informed by hands-on practice
Nelson has built full-stack business applications, customised enterprise resource planning systems and implemented network and cybersecurity infrastructure. His experience includes application interfaces and databases, data migration, firewall deployments and secure connectivity. Through Legal Technologies Kenya Limited, which he founded and led from 2021 to 2024, he coordinated teams through more than 20 software development projects. He continues to work on software and enterprise systems through Code and Counsel Consulting.
For clients, this experience supports careful questioning of technical scope, supplier promises and operational risk before a contract is signed. Nelson drafts, reviews and negotiates SaaS, cloud computing, software licensing, managed services and data-processing agreements. He also advises on privacy programmes, data protection impact assessments, intellectual property and cybersecurity governance, including cross-border compliance work involving Kenya and Uganda. He helps legal and technical teams arrive at obligations they can understand and carry through into day-to-day operations.
ICT strategy
Nelson helps organisations plan technology investments around their business priorities. He advises on digital transformation roadmaps, system selection and procurement, taking account of cost, operational needs and the legal obligations that will follow adoption. The plan must be workable. His combined experience helps decision-makers assess supplier commitments and the consequences of replacing or extending existing systems.
ICT infrastructure
His ICT infrastructure services cover network design, enterprise systems and secure connectivity, informed by hands-on work with firewalls, databases and business applications. He helps organisations assess their infrastructure needs and make provision for reliability, access controls and recovery. Contracts must support delivery. Technical specifications and supplier responsibilities are considered together so the agreed protections reflect the systems being deployed.
ICT policy
Nelson develops ICT policies that translate organisational requirements into rules people can follow. These cover matters such as acceptable use, access management, information security and the adoption of new technologies. Implementation needs clear ownership. He connects policy requirements to technical controls and legal responsibilities, helping organisations establish practical governance for the systems and information entrusted to them.
Digital justice, policy and professional learning
In 2023, Nelson served as an embedded consultant with the International Development Law Organization, assessing the Kenya Judiciary's electronic filing and case-tracking systems. The work covered user journeys, system architecture, accessibility, authentication and data governance. He prepared recommendations for improvement and developed learning materials for court users and judicial officers, drawing on the experience of advocates, registry staff and the people using digital justice services.
Nelson contributed to the development of Kenya's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2025 and has delivered training at the Kenya School of Law and Strathmore University on AI regulation, cybersecurity law and technology risk. His professional contributions also include the Africa Law Tech Festival 2025 and curriculum development and validation for the proposed USIU Bachelor of Laws programme. These engagements inform his work on emerging technologies and the practical questions organisations face when adopting AI.
Qualifications
Nelson holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Kenya Methodist University, together with the Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law. He was admitted to the Kenyan Bar on 22 November 2021. His MSc in Computer Science is ongoing.
He has completed the Data Protection Course at CIPIT, Strathmore University, and the AI Policy Clinic certification programme at the Center for AI and Digital Policy. His continuing work in software development keeps his technology-law advice close to the systems and implementation decisions it addresses.