Meaning & Scope Of “Infamous Conduct In A Professional Respect”

By Sylvester Udemezue

▪️For a lawyer to be held guilty of infamous conduct in a professional respect,” the following two conditions must be met:
1️⃣The affected lawyer must have committed the misconduct in the course of rendering professional services or while working as a lawyer . (See Re G Idowu: A Legal Practitioner (1971) 1 ALL NLR 126);
AND
2️⃣The misconduct complained of must be one reasonably regarded as disgraceful or dishonorable by his professional colleagues. (see▪️Allison v. General Council of Medical Education & Registration (1894) 1 QB 750; ▪️Re A Solicitor (1912) 1 KB 302; ▪️OKIKE V LPDC (2005) 15 NWLR (Pt 949) 471).
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♦️Please note that these two conditions are mutually inclusive; * if one is absent, there is NO *”infamous conduct in a professional respect”

♦️Note also that not all unprofessional conduct done in the course of acting for a client is “infamous conduct.” ▪️There are some unprofessional conduct which are not “disgraceful nor dishonorable,” but are merely against established norms and the legal tradition. ▪️An Example, LPDC has held that a lawyer using the word, “barrister” as a title honorific before his name is an “unprofessional conduct.” (See NBA v. OFOMATA (2017) 5 NWLR (PR 1557) 128 @ 133). ▪️Would you now say that such amounts to an “infamous conduct” on the part of a lawyer who chooses to continue to introduce himself/herself as “Barr ….?” ▪️That’s my point. ▪️A lawyer standing surety for his client, although “unprofessional,” is not ipso facto an “infamous conduct in a professional respect.”

♦️EXAMPLES OF “INFAMOUS CONDUCT IN A PROFESSIONAL RESPECT:” stealing or converting or misappropriating a client’s money or property, defrauding a client, divulging privileged professional communication, acting in spite existence of conflict of interest, colluding with a client to commit illegality or fraud or perjury, or forgery, stealing another lawyer’s client, a law lecturer participating or engage in exam malpractice, a prosecuting legal officer colluding with the defence to destroy evidence or otherwise to pervert the course of justice, a lawyer bribing the judge or other court official to have judgment in his client’s favour, a lawyer communicating privately with the judge in a case he is handling, etc.

Thank you 🙏
Respectfully,
UDEMS