‘Counsel you’re not making any sense to me.’ His lordship said in anger. As if he already rehearsed it, before the last word could even drop from His Lordship’s mouth, all he could say was ‘as the court pleases’ continuously like three times. A judge abuses you verbally in open court, right in front of your client, and the only conventionally acceptable response is to say “as court pleases”, did we also borrow this from Common law?
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The practice of law is a business, though it appears many lawyers do not yet know they’re into business. Most times, law offices are operated like no-one’s business. You begin to wonder exactly when legal practitioners in Nigeria will realize that law practice is like a business of buying and selling though not really of goods but mostly of services. In business, time is precious, time is money. This perhaps explains why men and women who are into real business rarely wallow away their times. But how many of such times lawyers do waste in court? There is no point denying the fact, lawyers who are into real litigation themselves know how much time they waste often in court.
I have heard many times even before my law degree that courts sit at 9:00am. And then there is the conventional mantra again that courts don’t wait for lawyers; lawyers are supposed to be seated by 9:00am and wait for the court. But I beg to ask, how frequent do some of these courts sit by 9:00am? Well, this is a topic of discussion for another day. Meanwhile, the implication of this is that as a lawyer, you’re expected to be seated by 9:00am waiting for the court. Like it or not, as long as the clerks of the court do not inform you that the court is not sitting, you’ve got to wait till as long as it takes the court to sit. Some lawyers have rationalized this by supposing that a lawyer, emphasis on young lawyers, should sit and watch the seniors make submissions in court and learn from them; the same way seniors calling their cases out of turn is rationalized. The young lawyers should sit there even if he gets to court by 8:00am and the senior walks in by 10:30am. Whether this rationale is still a good one or has outlived its relevancy with the introduction of frontloading system is an issue that deserves to be critically looked into.
Sometimes, you find yourself seated in court by 9:00am waiting for the court. Then you consider your time more precious and do not wish to waste it in court waiting for one judge in an atmosphere of doubt as to whether the court is sitting or not, you think to yourself whether to agree with the adverse party, if the adverse is willing, to take another date off record or leave the court to attend to other pressing businesses and risk whatever happens to your case. Meanwhile, it’s not your case per se, it’s your client’s case. Mostly, you have got no alternative. You’ve to wait. But for how long? It depends on the judge. You can only grumble inwardly or complain to your colleagues seated next to you. You cannot challenge the judge or question why His Lordship sits later than 9:00am.
While it is possible that some judges who occasionally sit late may have valid excuses even where they don’t have any, will you dare stand and challenge them in open court? But guess what, if His lordship should say ‘Counsel you’re not making any sense to me” instead of clarifying your point so that you make more senses, your response will be ‘as court pleases’ spontaneously. Sometimes you don’t even know the exact number of times you say it. “As court pleases, as court pleases’ continuously. You may need to enquire from your colleagues in court the exact number of times you uttered the mantra after the embarrassment. “Counsel you’re not making any sense to me”. “As court pleases” sometimes nodding your head in agreement. “As court pleases”. As court pleases that what? That you’re not making any sense? Interesting!
Before you get swayed, remember, we’re talking about the time of a lawyer. We need to begin to ask ourselves that if law practice is truly a business why then do lawyers operate more like spare parts sellers in Gudu markets than professional businessmen and women. Why does a lawyer have to spend 5-7 hours in court just to move an Ex Parte application in terms of the motion paper? Is there yet no alternative to this or we have not just been creative enough to find one?
………..to be continued……..
Kazeem A. Oyinwola Esq. writes from Abuja
The book also examines Nigeria's legal ecosystem, focusing on the LPELR and NBA AI Guidelines. As a bonus, every purchase comes with a FREE eBook titled: How to Use the AI Features in LegalPedia and LawPavilion.
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Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe Esq., ACIarb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director at the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria.
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