In the past few days, reactions have trailed the publication of the list of confirmed Senior Advocates of Nigeria approved by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) for 2022.
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One of the reactions that has stemmed a fresh flurry of debates and opinions amongst stakeholders, is the dissent raised by a Human rights activist and Senior Advocate, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN and seconded by J.S. Okutepa SAN that the rank of SAN should not be conferred on academics who are not engaged in courtroom practice.
However, this has not gone down well with a Former Deputy Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof. Ernest Ojukwu SAN. The renowned academic on a tweet sighted by TheNigeriaLawyer wondered the reason for the agitation by the Senior Advocates.
He wrote on his official Twitter handle @ernestojukwu, “SAN: Why are few SANs angry that their teachers are made SAN?LPA says SAN isfor lawyer who “has achieved distinction in the legal profession in such manner as the committee may from time to time determine. “Where did we derive the argument from that it is only for litigation counsel?”
TheNigeriaLawyer recalls that Adegboruwa SAN had stated in a recent article, “Academics as advocates – In the last exercise for the Rank of SAN, over fifty applicants were reported to have applied for elevation from the academic community. In the way it is presently, virtually every law lecturer will apply for the Rank. It is my own personal view that the award of SAN to law teachers should be abolished outrightly. The Silk cannot be an inheritance, whereby the SAN does not appear in court ten years post conferment. But if the award to law teachers must continue, then they are either given another designation or they must frontload at least five trials in contested cases in the High Court, three contested cases in the Court of Appeal and two contested cases in the Supreme Court. Why should a law teacher apply for the Rank of SAN if he has never practiced and has no intention to ever practice law?”
His point was concurred by another SAN, J.S. Okutepa who said, “I completely agree with my learned brother silk Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN. We cannot continue to give the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria to those who are strictly not Advocates but who are distinguished academics.”
He continued, “Their rank is professorial. That is the rank of distinction in the academics. To award the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria to the law lecturers is itself an abnormality in term of the meaning of an Advocate in Court.
While it is true that law teachers have and are making significant contributions to the development of the legal profession in Nigeria, it cannot be properly argued that these law lecturers are members of the legal profession who are in full time legal practice and have distinguished themselves as advocates in our courts except of course those who lecture and at the same time have time for private legal practice.”
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