Adnan Khan has led two lives: the one before he was told he couldn’t make a good lawyer because of his soft-spoken nature and the one he now lives as a partner in the construction department at the 70-year-old legal practice, Africa Legal Network (ALN).
“I come from a long line of professionals. My late grandfather was a judge in the High Court of Kenya. While in primary school, my headmaster told me I couldn’t make it to law school because of my reclusive nature.”
Law being almost genetic to him, he made it his mission to earn his place in the Bar.
“Even when I didn’t secure a first place at the university to study law, I was nudged by the fact that I come from a line of people that had made it where I was trying to walk into. That nudged me to press on.”
"Today’s professional world requires you to stand out and have something that sets you apart."
He had a pitstop at Oxford Brookes University, where he studied applied accounting. “Today’s professional world requires you to stand out and have something that sets you apart. My time at Oxford Brookes was a deep dive into the world of construction economics.” This was a natural segue to where he is today.
He became partner in 2020 and now manages a team of 25 people across the region, a role he says is demanding. His key focuses are complex structuring (including tax) of integrated mixed-use developments, sales and acquisitions, title, land use, environmental development, leasing, joint ventures, and restructuring.
He is a globally recognised legal practitioner, having received his flowers from Chambers Global and Legal 500, among others. His practice is guided by a maxim he learned from his teacher, Prof Elisha Ongoya: “If I can’t preserve my dignity, I am unable to preserve that of my client.”
He got his ducks in a row as a legal intern. “Pravin Bowry saw me pick up a conveyancing file and asked me to quit reading “boring” stuff. After attending a few court sessions earlier in my career, I quickly discovered that I was more interested in transactions in construction and not courtroom litigation.”
Adnan does not own bookmarks or colourful bookmarkers. That’s because he barely reads books outside his office. “My work involves a lot of reading. By the end of the day, I don’t want to see any more written material, so I listen to podcasts and watch videos on various thematic areas, such as personal development.”
He is a plant whisperer, according to his wife and child. “My family says I talk to plants. I like to think about it as a passion for gardening. Gardening is my ‘nothing box’ where I don’t have to think about anything for about two hours every week. The world expects you to move mountains, taking time off affords you much-needed breathers.”
-Ndugu Abisai