Legal Profession And Her New Entrants By: Abdulrasheed Ibrahim, LL.M

Just last week, a little above 1500 lawyers were called to the Nigerian Bar and as such they now have full right of audience in all our courts. The said call to bar was not without controversies as it was reported in the media that none of those called went home with 2.1, very few with 2.2 while the majority when away with PASS usually referred to as “Let My People”. About 700 students will have to take the slot again. A source from the law school has said that the media got the news wrong as those just called were the students that re-sat for the law school examination which is not usually graded. The fact of the matter is that in recent time there have been serious complaints everywhere that the standard of education in Nigeria generally is fallen and the law school is not an exception. Sometime in 2014 there was a mass failure in the law school, in Series 9 of THE BRIEFCASE, a Newsletter I ran during my tenure of the Publicity Secretary of the NBA Lagos Branch, I made the following submission: “There was gnashing of teeth recently over the mass failure in the Nigerian Law School. One is not surprised that we are paying the price for the refusal to stand our ground when the idea of decentralising the institution was first brought up. I belonged to the school of thought kicked against the decentralisation. But since we live in a country where every community in Nigeria is agitating to have its own State , the same politics was brought into the Legal Education in Nigeria and as such Law School is now everywhere in Nigeria i.e. Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Enugu, Yola and Bayelsa to the best of my knowledge. Perhaps if another President is elected, he too may decide to take another Law School to his home town. That is Nigeria for us all .If we may ask: Is this how other important institutions are being decentralised? I am of the view that rather than continue to proliferate the Nigerian Law School, it is better we revert to a Centralised Law School. If we insist on multiple campuses for the institution, let Lagos and Abuja stay and scrap the others. All we need to do is to merge and expand the infrastructures in Lagos and Abuja campuses A centralised law school will unite us more than the decentralised one. With the latest call to the bar of about 3433 new wigs into the profession, we pray for more manna to fall from heaven so that they will have the cause to thank God for being part of the profession. The new wigs are most welcome.” The new entrants just called into the profession also deserve our good prayers and wishes which must include that may those among them who will like to practice not find themselves in the offices of those principals who will invite the policemen to come and harass and beat them! On the serious note I keep wondering why the introduction of new curriculum into the law school training as well as the requirement that every law school student must possess a lap top has not brought much revolution in the system. Why are we still recording mass failure among the students unlike in those days when meaningful and positive impacts were being made by law school students? Are students putting the electronic device to different use apart for what they are meant for? The reality on the ground this time around is that the information technology with its great advantages has rendered many people particularly students very lazy. We now live in the world of just “clink the button” and “copy and paste” as well as “downloading” where no further attempt is made on research but relevant and irrelevant materials are put together. The world is now breeding students who are no longer books or reading friendly. No wonder that recently Mrs. Folake Solanke, the first female Senior Advocate in Nigeria again advised lawyers to take the art of reading very serious and not to compromise it. We must continue to advise the aspirants to the legal profession that the law school is not a place where they go for merry making but rather a place where you go and do serious reading and research. If you compromise that, you do that at your own peril. CALL TO BAR AND HIJAB CONTROVERSY One other issue I must not fail to touch here is that of Amasa Firdaus, a Muslim lady lawyer who eventually made the last call to bar ceremony. The first time she made the news headline was during the previous call to bar when she was not called by the Body of Benchers because of her refusal to remove her Hijab. This indeed generated a lot of controversies particularly among Christians and Muslims who are lawyers whether she was entitled to use the Hijab or not. Then, different kinds of pictures were sent and displayed on the social media by both sides. There you saw pictures of how some people including lawyers and judges dressed in other jurisdictions. There were also pictures of different types of Hijabs, Nuns, Pastors and other Clergy Men attires. The pictures of different Masquerades including that of Eyo as well as those of the Traditional worshipers were also on display during the controversies. Each side was trying justified its arguments. Now that Amasa Firdaus has been called to the bar by the Body of Benchers with her Hijab, the controversy seems to have resurfaced. The argument by some of our colleagues that the call to bar of Firdaus by the Body of Benchers will now open the flood gate to all kinds of people to come with the various religious attires asking to be called to the bar, to me is an argument that cannot hold water. The question that I have been asking some of those who have engaged me in discussion is that: Is there anything harmful in this simple Hijab wears by this lady? The explanation I have given to some people who care to listen is that any Muslim lady that adopts the type of Hijab wears by Firdaus wears it to everywhere she goes. It is not mainly for religious or ceremonial purpose. Everywhere she goes she makes it to form part of daily dressing. Can this be said of other religious or ceremonial attires? What I observed when the unnecessary controversies and arguments initially started was that many of those involved in the arguments whether for or against did not also the method of reasoning to together to come into play. There was absence of persuasion with wisdom in the cause of the arguments. Both parties at a stage went outside the issue at stake to attack and condemn the faith of each other. You see a situation where Christian lawyers and Muslim lawyers who claimed to be learned friends descended to the level of those who are not learned. The attack on religions particularly the religion of Christianity and Islam is not a new phenomenon as that is as old as the religions themselves. For instance in 1906, one Rev. F.A. Klein wrote a book titled “The Religion of Islam” where he launched a serious attack on Islam. As done by some other before him the Reverend presented a distorted Islam to the world and many people continue to hold wrong view about Islam. Some non-Muslim writers still rely on his work to produce more damaging books about Islam. It was not until about thirty years later that a Muslim lawyer and scholar by name Muhammad Ali was able to produce a formidable rejoinder with the same title. The attack on religions is not limited only to the religion of Islam but also extended to the religion of Christianity. Have if ever heard about Thomas Paine (1737-1809) who wrote the book titled “Age of Reason” among others? There were others like of Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) who wrote series of essay dealing with a lot of issues on Christianity. Their attack on Christianity was too overwhelming. The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo (SAN) who was an avid reader and a great writer confessed in his autobiography that the level of attack unleashed on Christianity by these great thinkers and writers nearly sent him out of Christianity. The lesson for all of us here is that as learned people we should all try to know about one ano ther’s faiths or religions. If there are things we do not understand, we should not hesitate to ask questions from those who really know. This will go very long way to understand one another faiths or religions for better understanding. This will promote unity and peace among us. REMARKABLE PRONOUNCEMENT ON NECESSITY OF DISCIPLINE IN LEGAL PROFESSION All through our history from colonial period to now, the legal profession is a strategic profession that must not be allowed to go off the rail. Law is the mother of all professions; it is a living and constantly producing mother and she must not be allowed to be sick. Sickness in legal profession is the act of indiscipline whether due to outright unbecoming act or corruption or fraud. Every situation, just like every person is under the law and if law is sick then the rot will quickly take over our society. It is for this reason that legal practitioners must be able to clear indiscipline within their rank with dispatch and effectiveness. The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee is a quasi tribunal to look into aspects of discipline by investigating in a fair hearing manner and give its direction. Per BELGORE, JSC (as he then was) in Okike Vs. L.P.D.C (2005) ALL FWLR (Pt. 266) Pg. 1207 Paras D-E THE SETTLED PRINCIPLE OF LAW On status of counsel holding brief of the other It is firmly settled that counsel holding brief for another stands exactly in the position of counsel who he holds i.e. for all purposes. See Chief O. Oba J. Oyeyemi (1978) 6 FCA 90 (of 4th – 13th July 1978); Falowo Vs. Banigbe (1998) 6 SCNJ 42 at 64; Shyllon Vs. Aseni (1994 ) 6 SCNJ 287;(1994 ) NWLR (Pt. 353) 670 & 689; PRP Vs. INEC (2004) ALL FWLR (Pt. 209) Pg. 1090 Para H For more Settled Principles of Law and Remarkable Pronouncements from our Supreme Court Jurists from 1956-2016, obtain or order for your copies of LAW PRACTICE KIT and LEGAL LUMINARIES. Call or text 08055476823, 08164683735. Your library is incomplete without these books.]]>