Hon. Mr. Justice James Rika
Justice James Rika was appointed judge of the ELRC in July 2012. Before his appointment, he had served as judge of the defunct Industrial Court of Kenya having been appointed in 2006. Judge Rika also served as a transitional Principal Judge of the Industrial Court in 2012.
Prior to his appointment as Judge, Justice Rika worked in private practice from 1994 to 2006. He was part of the Kenyan Delegation to ILO 100th session in Geneva Switzerland, which adopted the 2011
Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Servants.
Judge Rika holds a Master of Laws degree (LLM) – International Dispute Resolution,
from the University of London, 2010.
He attained Bachelor of Laws (LLB) at the University of Nairobi in 1990 and a Postgraduate Diploma at the Kenya School of Law 1992. He was admitted to the Bar in 1994. He attended Starehe Boys’ Centre
from 1982 to 1987, emerging best student nationally.
The judge was awarded for exceptional judicial service by Mombasa Law Society in December 2017. He is a member of the National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law).
He has interest in dog breeding, sports, reading, writing and oenology.