Daily Law Tips (Tip 647) by Onyekachi Umah, Esq., LL.M, ACIArb(UK)
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Although the present space known as Nigeria has been in existence long before the visits of colonial masters, the colonialism brought the name tag “Nigeria” and its resultant administration and politics. Ahead of the white colonial masters, the original residents of the space were not without laws and order. Their various unique legal systems had their own challenges like anything in life. However, for administrative convenience, the legal system of our colonial masters were introduced into Nigeria, including the Barrister and Solicitor style of practice among lawyers. This work reveals the difference between Barristers and Solicitors in Nigeria and their counterparts in United Kingdom with the aid of Nigerian case laws.
Among the relics of the colonial interactions in Nigeria, are the obsolete laws in Nigeria imported from the United Kingdom before the Nigerian independence. Some of the imported laws were enacted since 1900 and are still yet to be amended by Nigeria’s heavily paid legislatures. Though the Barrister and Solicitor style of practice was borrowed from the United Kingdom, Nigeria has her own unique modifications to this. This will be shown via distinction made in judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Below are the words of the apex court.
“A solicitor would prepare a case and then instruct a barrister who would stand up in court and present the case to the Judge and the jury. Barristers do not carry out interviews of clients (and in fact are prohibited from doing so by their rules of conduct) and they only come into a case once a solicitor instructs them as a specialist advocate to represent a client, much like a doctor sending a patient to a surgeon for specialist treatment. (See David Anderson inside Time issue July 2009). In Nigeria on the other hand where there is no demarcation between the functions of solicitors and barristers (advocates), it is the same person that prepares the case and appears in court for the client.” Per KUMAI BAYANG AKA’AHS ,J.S.C ( Pp. 90-91, paras. D-B ) in the case of VAB PETROLEUM INC v. MOMAH (2013) LPELR-19770(SC)
“…a legal practitioner is a person entitled according to the provision of Section 24 of Legal Practitioners Act, 1990 to practice as a barrister or as barrister and solicitor either generally or for the purpose of any particular office or proceedings.” Per CHRISTOPHER MITCHELL CHUKWUMA-ENEH ,J.S.C ( P. 18, paras. A-B ) in the case of OKAFOR & ORS v. NWEKE & ORS (2007) LPELR-2412(SC)
In conclusion, unlike in the United Kingdom, from where Nigeria borrowed her system, in Nigeria, a solicitor is also a barrister and combines the both roles without any restriction, whatsoever. Hence, a legal practitioner in Nigeria, is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria upon being called to the Nigerian bar and has powers to practice in any part of Nigeria.
My authorities are:
1. Section 2, 4, 8 and 24 of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1975.
2. Judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of VAB PETROLEUM INC v. MOMAH (2013) LPELR-19770(SC)
3. Judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of OKAFOR & ORS v. NWEKE & ORS (2007) LPELR-2412(SC)
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