#2019NBAAGC: Final Plenary Speakers Call for Smarter Regulation, Greater Capacity in the Practice of Law
Speakers at the final plenary session of the 2019 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association took a long look at the current profile and fortunes of the legal profession, and concluded that it was long overdue for reform.
According to NEWSWIRE Law and Events Magazine correspondent in Lagos, they expressed this view while speaking on the theme, ‘The Future of the Legal Profession and the Regulation of Legal Practice and Practitioners.’ Chaired by one of Nigeria’s foremost lawyers, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, a former President of the NBA and Principal Partner at the law firm of Wole Olanipekun & Co., the session panel comprised of the Lead Speaker in the person of Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN, who is the Principal Partner at the law firm of Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors; Prof. Fabian Ajogwu, SAN, an academic and Principal Partner at the law firm of Kenna Partners, and Senator Ita Enang, Special Adviser to the Nigerian President on national assembly matters.
In his opening presentation, Chief Idigbe, who also heads the NBA’s Legal Profession Regulation Committee, highlighted the work the committee has done so far – especially in trying to strike a fine balance amid what he called the ‘tension’ between the self-regulation of law practice in Nigeria, and statutory regulation. He made some useful distinctions between the Nigerian norm in this regard, and what obtains, for example,in the Canadian province of Ontario, where he is also licensed to practice. In its bid to make the case for self-regulation and the stricter supervision of lawyers and their professional behavior, he said, the committee has a Legal Profession Regulation Bill pending before the national assembly. He also suggested that the NBA might want to adopt some aspects of the model currently being operated by ICAN (the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria), for example.
The quest among senior lawyers for the coveted rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Idigbe added, is assuming an unhealthy dimension. In some other jurisdictions, the Certified Specialist was also an honored rank, and should be incorporated into our system. On the influx of foreign firms into the Nigerian legal space, the learned silk called for regulations designed to ensure that foreign firms practice only foreign laws in Nigeria – as obtains in other jurisdictions – while leaving the practice of Nigerian law to Nigerian firms. He also called for a more robust institution of pupillage for young lawyers (and even non-lawyers who could serve as law clerks, paralegals and so forth).
Prof. Ajogwu, who spoke next, was emphatic in stressing the imperative of self-regulation as the way to go. He spoke at length on the essential definition of a legal professional as a craftsman – one whose welfare should be paramount in the minds of those who employ his services as well as those who enjoy them. The academic drew applause when he called for a total paradigm shift among lawyers and their apprehension of their vocation – they and their practice must make the transition from being a profession to being a business; from an advisory to an informative service; from being reactive (solving problems as they arise) to being proactive (preventing those problems from occurring in the first place, or managing them to avoid escalation); and from being defensive to being pragmatic. Otherwise, he warned, the title of Prof. Richard Susskind’s book, ‘The End of Lawyers’ would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Also speaking from the vantage-point of one who straddles the three arms of government (having been a legislator who now works for the executive, as well as a lawyer by training who interfaced with the judiciary at some time), Sen. Enang, the presidential adviser on national assembly matters, agreed with the basic points touched on by the previous speakers, but also lamented the inability, as he saw it, of lawyers and stakeholders to implement even their own resolutions as far self-regulation was concerned. He promised to use his good offices to help the Self-Regulation Bill through the national assembly with a view towards getting presidential assent.
In the Q/A session, a number of participants expressed concern at the crisis of professional indiscipline, especially among younger lawyers, and called for an attitudinal change. Others called for a simplified petition system to make sure grievances are resolved quickly. A contributor lamented the fact that jobs which should normally be performed by lawyers (registrations, probate, etc) are increasingly being performed by people who lacked legal training, especially at the local government level, and called for urgent steps to correct this anomaly. One way to do this, he said, was to establish a legal department (staffed, of course, by lawyers) in all 776 LGA offices in Nigeria.
Always an inspirational presence at these Conferences, the grand dame of the Nigerian Bar and the first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Folake Solanke, SAN once again lent her voice and moral authority to the call for a better deal for younger lawyers – in terms of remuneration and the attainment of a healthy work-life balance). She also counseled younger wigs on the importance of good appearance and grooming especially when appearing in court or other public occasions.
In his summation, the chairman of the session, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN decried what he called ‘the disguised unemployment’ plaguing the legal profession today, which can be ameliorated, he said, by involving lawyers in economic activities having little or nothing to do with law.
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