Lawyers, We Must Make The Judiciary Work!

By Ben Ndedde

Ever since the passage of the Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Services and Representation) Order, 2023;  lawyers are heaving a huge sigh of relief.

Yet along with it comes the caution  ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’. But just so we do not look like a joke to the staring public, here is a caveat:

You cannot charge a client this [deservingly] much only to renege and go to court and be taking dates(without enforceable consequences). Soon, our jurisdictions may need insurance for wasted resources or slow litigation results.

The druggery in litigation must stop. Yes, we must make the judiciary work, and that is our collective  responsibility. Each lawyer should take it up as an ethical resolve. Our new fees will filter the focused serious minded lawyer from any that is just tagging along.

We all know that feeling of relief that comes with the court not sitting when you were not fully prepared for the day’s hearing. You also know that relief that greets you when a frivolous preliminary objection slows down the other party because the court must take a date and hear all sides sometimes without appreciable cost. Yet you dump the file as soon as arrive the office, and never pick it up until D-Day. Or is it the relief that comes with so poor a cost awarded, yet a mere slap on the wrist of a defaulting counsel (for a litigant who knew nothing of why his case has not been called for the testimony of PW1  one year into hearing. And yet, the lawyers, barely affected, get paid with each court appearance only to bow and smile with colleagues, counting the days the client must consider them as having been to court, yet sometimes for nothing other than to take a date!

Look lawyers, we must stop this joke because if the money were to come from your pocket for all those times without much on actual hearing, and parties have barely scratched the cause of dispute, surely you would be discouraged.

If you are still reading this, then you are truly a genius.

Gentlemen of the bar, we must [devise a way] to make [our] judiciary work, and resolve disputes as quickly and as easily as the speed of Election Petitions. Yes, you heard me. We should abandon frivolous schemes, or clients will abandon the druggery our courts for us for fees paid without action! Some of our courts are nothing far from a rocking chair – movement without achievement!

How come election petitions move so fast? Talk about dedication to be heard within the dateline.

• Our penalty for datelines must be enforced;
• Our grounds for appeals must be penalized and paid for, especially when frivolous;
• Our mediation and arbitration resolutions must have a separate track for court enforcements, similar to the undefended list hearing for the recovery of liquidated money demands;
• And ofcourse, all cases must simply not end up in court! Use the ADR;
• And why do we not have upfront cautionary deposit same way we have for Election Petition. That way only serious suits will proceed to litigation and process services will be expeditious;
• Process service must be made fluid as is the practice at the National Industrial Courts (without much drama and formality).

Ben Ndedde writes from Justice Forte Chambers in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State under State Band 2 of the.