The High Court has once again deferred proceedings in a case challenging the Supreme Court’s decision to bar Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi and his law firm from appearing before it, pending directions from the Court of Appeal.

The matter, which has dragged on for more than a year, centres on a directive issued in January 2024 by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, prohibiting Ahmednasir and all lawyers linked to his firm from participating in any proceedings before the apex court.

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) moved to the High Court to challenge that directive, arguing that the Supreme Court had no legal authority to punish advocates outside the mechanisms provided by law, particularly the Advocates Disciplinary Tribunal.

However, progress on the case remains stalled, following the Court of Appeal’s intervention last year to suspend the High Court proceedings after Supreme Court judges appealed against Justice Chacha Mwita’s ruling that the High Court had jurisdiction to hear the matter.

On Tuesday, Justice Mwita noted that the appeal process had not advanced and therefore saw no need to schedule an earlier mention date.

He said the case would be mentioned on November 11, 2025, giving the parties time to obtain directions or wait for a possible verdict from the appellate court.

“You still need to be heard at the Court of Appeal, and that process must conclude before this court can proceed,” the judge told the parties.

Appearing on behalf of LSK, lawyer Wilfred Nderitu told the court that the Court of Appeal had encouraged the parties on April 30, 2025, to consider resolving the matter out of court, but efforts had stalled.

“We were before the Court of Appeal in April when we were asked to attempt to settle the matter amongst ourselves. We then held one meeting which did not yield any meaningful results,” Nderitu said, a position the other parties confirmed.

Nderitu also told the court that no hearing date had been set for the appeal and that the chances of reaching an out-of-court agreement were now slim.

In his earlier ruling on June 28, 2024, Justice Mwita had upheld the High Court’s right to hear the petition, but he acknowledged that the issue raised important constitutional questions that required interpretation by the Court of Appeal.

It was after this that the appellate court placed a hold on the High Court’s proceedings, pending the resolution of the jurisdictional dispute raised by the Supreme Court judges.

The Court of Appeal is expected to constitute a five-judge bench to determine whether the High Court can hear such a case involving another superior court.