Can you please introduce yourself: My name is Ezenwa Anumnu, I am a practicing Christian, husband of one female wife and father to three lovely children. I am a believer in people as ultimate assets and service to God and humanity as an effective tool for building people to achieve their best life possible. I have served in various leadership capacities such as President, Rotary Club of Abuja (2014/15), President, Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International Central Executive Chapter, elected Council Member, Abuja Chamber of Commerce (ACCI) (2015 – date) and currently Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch fondly called the Unity Bar (2016/18). I have 17 years of cogent legal practice experience as senior partner in the law firm of Joint Heirs Chambers and believes in the self-development, self-motivation, self-assessment and peer reviews as effective tools to achieve personal goals. I hold Masters degrees in Law from both the University of Jos, Plateau State and Lazaski University Poland and currently a doctoral degree candidate in Law in the University of Jos, Plateau State. What area(s) of law interests you? For me, personally I have found litigation an indispensable tool for developing the requisite skills as an advocate. Every lawyer should have a level of litigation practice experience to build him or her up in advocacy. But beyond litigation and general advocacy, I have special interest in investment and business law and over the years I advised companies on Nigerian Investment laws and generally the business and transactional practice. I also have interest in new and emerging practice areas such as compliance, consumer complaints management, capital markets, procurement, Freedom of Information (FOI) etc. These form the core focus of my tenure as Chairman Unity Bar as we believe in professionalism and strive to bring to fore the need to develop these practice areas to help integrate lawyers, bring lawyers to the fore of national discourse and create practice opportunities for the teeming lawyers in the FCT especially the new wigs and young lawyers who are encouraged to explore these areas early in practice. In this regard we have undertaken periodic training, capacity building and networking programs to bring to the attention of lawyers these areas of practice. What do you like most about legal practice? Its Versatility! Legal Practice challenges the human mind. Every Case has its unique components and no two scenarios are ever the same even when they seem to be on all fours. So the work of a lawyer is always cut out for him or her first to distinguish one case from the other and then to make a case for himself. Legal practice is also full of possibilities, it is most dynamic and ever evolving. This is the mindset I always approach legal practice with. Why do you choose to be a lawyer? ‎Honestly, I never set out to be a lawyer until I found myself reading law in the University, since then I made up my mind to make the best of it. For me like the bible says, whatever your hands find to do, do with all your might. I have zero tolerance for failure or excuses. A preacher once said, even holy sloppy is still sloppy. I believe in excellence in all human endeavors, I believe in giving no a room for excuses as that is the pedestal for failure. I believe that there is a pedestal of life where if you apply yourself you can always succeed and that has been the driving factor for me. I also believe in picking up where one fails or makes mistakes as you can only get better with practice. Being a lawyer also affords you the opportunity to genuinely help and serve people. This is also very important to me. What do you think determines progress in practice? Amongst other things, hard work and determination play a huge role in progress in practice. You must always have a willingness to learn, apply yourself to what you have learnt and develop an appraisal system for periodic reviews. What are your outside interests and hobbies? I devote time to my primary assignment which is a minister in the market place. I serve as the Vice President of Full Gospel Business men fellowship International, Central Executive Chapter. I love to read and do a lot of outdoor sports like football and basketball. ‎Have you ever benefited from your disappointment/mistakes? Yes. I have made many mistakes and have experienced many disappointments but I have learnt from each and every mistakes or disappointment. I am not one to be bitter with anyone or regret my actions because I take my time to learn from those mistakes and actions. In fact I am succeeding today because of the mistakes I have made and this extends to every facet of my life. I became like a sponge- soaking all the pressure and taking away valuable life lessons therein. For instance, our two pilot projects in the Branch the Young Lawyer Training & Employment program (YoTEL) which is a threshold of revolutionizing legal practice for young lawyers was borne out of the disappointments I had as a young lawyer. Then it was not easy to get an opportunity for pupillage, I was turned down severally and that experience birthed the need for this program and here we are today creating opportunities for lawyers. Another is our NBA Discussion Series Project which was conceived through the disappointment I had as a young lawyer. It is aimed at showcasing the capacities we have in the branch. For me, the NBA is should be all about creating opportunities for lawyers. Could you tell us your experience as a young lawyer? As a young lawyer, not much opportunities were availed to me. In fact, I remember an experience where a very senior lawyer in the profession actually took a case file (physically snatched away the casefile) from me in the home and presence of my client. A very senior and popular lawyer here in the FCT that has highest achievement hustled a brief I was already handling from me. He never asked if my brief was perfected, he just walked away with the file and his fees. That was a couple of years ago but this did not make me give up or get frustrated with the profession. I had to develop and create opportunities for myself. I took on a lot of cases and developed the requisite skills and was committed to learning new things every day. I also faced a lot of practice challenges and that is why the welfare and growth of our young lawyers are first on my mind and my executive committee has designed a number of programs around young lawyers which are aimed at building their capacities and exposing them to various aspects of practice. I have been accused of focusing on young lawyers but the truth is that the young lawyers need a voice. Everybody talks about them but really are we doing much for them is the real question. This is why I have decided to do something. What was the most critical time in practice you had to deal with? ‎Like in every other business, starting up was the most critical time in practice that I had to deal with. That period before I could build any form of reputation or even develop my staying power in practice. Every lawyer must have the ability to weather the storm without compromising on standards or practice. A key element that we must develop is what I call ‘staying power’ in practice. This is a form of stability where you are able to focus on your vision or plan irrespective of vagaries of legal practice. For instance, you may have a dry run in practice where in the absence of a fixed income you are able to be consistent in quality delivery for your clients and maintaining standards. At a very young age in practice, I was not only able to develop a staying power but also a periodic assessment review procedure that enabled me to constantly measure progress in practice. Who has been most influential in your life? My relationship with God has been my sole source of sustenance in life and practice. It counts in every single thing I do, every single step I take and progress I make. In human terms, there is one person that has allowed himself to be used mightily by God in this respect and that is my mentor, friend and confidant, Mr. Adesoji Adesugba. Soji is a lawyer I met when I was very young in practice and he took interest in me, applied himself and invested in me. I have tremendous respect for him as a person and as a role model and I have learnt a lot working with him. What challenges have you faced since you assumed office as the Chairman of Abuja branch? ‎Well, my venture into the politics of leading the branch has been one that has been a new learning processes for me. I faced many challenges as my emergence was seen as challenging the status quo which had its own way of doing thing with impunity. They fought back violently and with the help of some highly placed members of the branch using various false allegations and convoluted stories about me. As God would have it, we had a superior value proposition that not only sought to empower lawyers and encourage them to build their capacities. They got the banks to freeze all our accounts and wrote various letters of disclaimer to ministries, agencies and parastals. They got the services of some highly placed persons in the national office to facilitate their mischief but in spite of these we were breaking new grounds and records in achievements because there is never an alternative to the truth. Our proposal is simple. We did a needs analysis of the challenges lawyers face and we discovered that there was huge knowledge gap out there and unfortunately it came at a time they people we intend to assist was already out in the field as practicing lawyers so we applied a system you can call ‘backward integration’ where we empower lawyers and build their capacities without necessarily disrupting what they are currently doing and this is yielding tremendous results. Our discussion series became a bi-monthly training and capacity program. We are at the verge of developing a building an all-purpose RESOURCE Centre for the Branch and the YOLTES program received tremendous support. We have built the foremost branch in the NBA. We believed in what we were doing and we gave it our all. This plan will give our colleagues (lawyers) a front row seat in every national discourse. We had a vision of making the lawyers from the branch as competitive as lawyers from other jurisdiction. This informed our NBA DISCUSSION SERIES PROGRAM and the Youth Training and Employment Program which have received tremendous review as it seek to bridge the knowledge gap and showcase capacities we have within the branch. To my mind our greatest challenge came from the quest for transparency and accountability in the activities of the Branch. In setting examples with ourselves as Executive Committee on strict discipline, high probity and accounting standards, it made certain person very uncomfortable with us and they sought to oppose whatever we are doing. I dare say that the response and encouragement from majority of members has been a huge source of encouragement for the Executive and hence our resolve to ensure that enduring structures are put in place in this regard. Your word of encouragement to upcoming lawyers‎? Being a lawyer is a huge asset and as such should not be taken for granted by any practitioner. Lawyers should be versatile at every given point. It gives one endless possibilities in life and the ability to fit into almost any role. Success in practice goes beyond mere meal ticket. A lawyer must at all times see himself as a social engineer and a change agent. These two value propositions must be placed in every conversation, every meeting and every transaction we undertake as lawyers. With these two assets, one then needs to build his capacity and apply himself to make enduring impact in the society.]]>