THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN NIGERIA AT A GLANCE – HISTORY, NATURE AND REGULATIONS...

BY

D. O. THOMAS (a.k.a EQUITY)

 INTRODUCTION

The Legal Profession is one of the oldest professions in modern Nigeria apart from our traditional societies. It is important to note that the Nigerian legal profession is a fusion of both solicitors and Barristers unlike what is obtainable in England and Scotland.

The Profession has had a somewhat chequered development through the colonial period up to the evolution of the modern legal profession. The legal profession being a noble profession is characterized by great discipline and professional rules. This articulate will focus on giving an expository insight into the general and specific over view of the history, nature and regulation of legal profession in Nigeria and conditions for admission into legal profession

GENERAL OVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF LEGAL PROFESSION IN NIGERIA

The history of the legal profession in Nigeria is traceable to the period before the advent of the British into the territory now called Nigeria. Thus, in 1863, English law was introduced into the colony of Lagos and courts were established there too. In 1876, the Supreme Court ordinance[1] was enacted and it provided that the Chief Justice shall have the power to approve, admit and enroll Barristers and solicitors to practice in the courts, it provided further that those person who shall qualify to practice law  in Nigeria must have been called to bar in London, , Dublin and Edinburg[2].

Similarly, order XVI, Rule 1 of the supreme Court (Civil Procedure) Rules[3]  56 grants the Chief Justice the power to enroll and admit to practice as Barristers and Solicitors any person who is entitled to practice as a barristers in England on Ireland or as an advocate in Scotland and who produces testimonials sufficient to satisfy the Chief Justice that has a man of good character.

From the above statutory provisions, it is clear that at this period (1863 – 1989), to qualify as a legal practitioner in Nigeria a person had to be called to these English, Scottish or Irish Bar. Or be a solicitor in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland.

The practice of only those called to bar in England to practice law in Nigeria came with its attendant challenges and difficulties as these people were not learned or educated on existing laws of Nigeria, it was therefore difficult for them to render efficient services as legal practitioners.

However in the view of the fact that we are aspirants to the bar , it becomes very crucial to also x-ray the HISTORY OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN NIGERIA in pari material with law school curriculum thus:

In August 1860 Lagos was ceded to the Queen of England as a result Lagos became a British colony.

Therefore all laws applicable in England became applicable to Lagos, and in 1863 the Supreme Court Ordinance was promulgated to the colony.

The problem of this legal system was that there was shortage of qualified personnel to man the court and shortage of court facilities which led to the employment of lay-men without the knowledge of the law to man the legal process.

As at 1862, there were 7 Magistrates– 3 were barristers, 2 were writing clerks, 1 was a merchant and 1 was a commander of the West Indian Garrison in Lagos.

 To solve this problem, the Supreme Court Ordinance of 1876 was promulgated for the admission of persons to practice as legal practitioners in Nigeria.

The history of the development of the Legal profession  is  thus divided into 3 stages as follows:

FIRST STAGE BETWEEN   1876-1914

In this stage, those entitled to practice were:

a.       Professionally qualified legal  practitioners abroad who were automatically enrolled to practice in Nigeria

b.      Those who served / sponsored Articles as Solicitors of the Supreme Court

s. 73 Supreme Court ordinance

c.       Local Attorneys given license to practice FOR 6 MONTHS and it is renewable.  S. 74 of the ordinance

                                               

THE SECOND STAGE WAS BETWEEN 1914- 1962.

In this Stage, those entitled to practice were only qualified professionals from Britain who are: 

d.      Barristers 

e.      Graduate Barristers

f.        Solicitors

THE THIRD STAGE BETWEEN 1962- DATE

Those entitled to practice are:

g.       Those entitled to practice generally(whose name is on the roll)

h.      Those entitled to practice by virtue of their office (Law officers)

i.         Those entitled to practice by warrant   for particular proceedings.

Nevertheless, some of the deficiencies inherent amongst English trained lawyers practicing in Nigeria are predicated upon the fact that:

a.                They had no knowledge of the Nigerian Customary Law / legal system

b.               They had no knowledge of our Nigerian Land law system

c.                They never possessed any university degree as at then and

d.               They no post-call experiences neither were they attached to Law offices.

Thus, there came the need for a better system of legal education in Nigeria; wherein the UNSWORTH COMMITTEE headed by EIG UNSWORTH was set up in OCTOBER 1959 . The  committee was to consider and make recommendations for the future of the legal profession in Nigeria. Hence, the committee came up with some recommendations amongst  which include:

Ø    The enactment of the Legal Practitioners Act 1962[4]

Ø    The Legal education Act 1962[5]

Ø    The Setting up of a general Council of the bar

Ø    The Institution of a code of conduct for legal practitioners.

Ø    The disciplinary control of the profession

Ø    Establishment of law faculty in Nigeria  as well as law school etc.

All the recommendations of the council were subsumed in the Legal Education Act and Legal Practitioners Act.

THE LEGAL EDUCATION ACT 1962:

This Act provided for legal education in Nigeria by establishing the Council for legal education, charged with the responsibility for the legal education of person wishing to be called to bar in Nigeria. Pursuant to this, the CLE[6] established in 1962 a law school then known as the Federal Law School and later became renamed the Nigerian Law School which offers a Professional training lasting for one academic year. Today, the Council has established up to six law school campuses located in the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria which include, Enugu Campus, Abuja Campus, Yenagoa Campus, Lagos Campus, Yola Campus and Kano Campus. As stated earlier, the legal profession in Nigeria is fused, hence a person admitted to Nigerian bar practices both as a solicitor and a barrister.

REGULATORY BODIES OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN NIGERIA

The legal  profession in Nigeria is basically regulated by the provisions of the legal practitioners Act and various subsidiary legislations made under or pursuant to the legal practitioners Act. These subsidiary legislations include:

Ø    The Rules of professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners.

Ø    The existing Laws which bind every body in Nigeria including the Lawyers.

Thus, the legal practitioners Act, a statute made up of 25 sections some of which are divided into subsections deals with many issues relating to the legal profession in Nigeria. The Act establishes the following regulatory bodies for the profession.

1.            The General Council of the Bar

2.            The Disciplinary Committee

3.            Council for Legal Education

4.            Privileges Committee

5.            The Body of Benchers

Before delving into discussing the duties and functions of the above bodies, lets take a bite into the bar and the bench.

THE BAR:

This consists of the legal practitioners. The Attorney General of the Federation is the official leader of the Nigerian Bar. Any person admitted into the legal profession to practice law in Nigeria in accordance with Section 4[7] is automatically a member of the Nigerian Bar. A person admitted to practice law in Nigeria practices both as solicitor and Barrister unlike in England where one is either a qualified Barrister or Solicitor.

A Barrister goes to court to do advocacy or conduct litigations. A solicitor does not go to court, rather he renders advisory services and prepares legal documents.

THE BENCH:

This consists of the judges of the High Court appointed through special procedure laid down in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria[8].  Unlike a judge, however, magistrates are regarded as members of the lower Bench and they are appointed by the public service commission on the advice of the Chief Judge of a state. It is important to note that unlike judges, who are referred to as members of the higher bench, magistrates upon retirement or resignation can still practice as legal practitioners.

A THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE REGULATORY BODIES IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION

v  THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE BAR:

This body is established by section 1 of the legal practitioners Act[9]. It is charged with the duty of the general management of the affairs of the Nigerian Bar Association[10] subject of course to any limitation provided by the constitution of the Association. The body is to perform any function conferred on it by the constitution of the Association. It is pursuant to its duties that the Association came up with the Rules of professional conduct for legal practitioners pursuant to the provisions of the legal practitioners Act 1962. The General Council of the Bar consists of the following:

Ø    The Attorney-General of the Federation as the President of the Council

Ø    The Attorneys-General of the states and

Ø    Twenty (20) members of the Nigerian Bar Association[11].

v  THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE:

Section 10 of the Act establishes a committee called the legal practitioners Disciplinary Committee. The Committee consists of:

(a)          The Attorney-General of the Federation as the Chairman of the Committee.

(b)          The Attorneys-General of the states in the Federation.

(c)           12 legal practitioners of at least10 years post call at the bar who would the appointed by the body of benchers on the nomination of the Nigerian Bar Association.

The disciplinary committee looks into matters alleging that a person whose name is on the roll of legal practitioners has misbehaved in that capacity as a legal practitioner. Where a person whose named is on the roll has been found guilty of an infamous conduct, the committee may make any of the following others depending on the gravity of the misconduct.

(a)          Ordering the Chief registrar of the Supreme Court to strike that person’s name off the roll of the legal practitioners or

(b)          Suspend that person from practice as a legal practitioner for such period as may be specified in the direction.

(c)           Admonishing that person[12].

v  COUNCIL FOR LEGAL EDUCATION:

This as stated earlier was established by the council for legal education Act 1962. Its main function is to arrange for the education of persons seeking to become members of the legal profession.  The council is also charged with the responsibility of continuing education for members of the profession in Nigeria. The council is charged with the duty of establishing Law Schools and accrediting universities for law program. To be admitted into the Nigerian law school, you must posses a degree in law from an approved University. See Dr. Okonjo V. Council of Legal Education[13] until recently only the citizens of Nigeria were qualified to practice law in Nigeria or enroll at the Supreme Court as legal practitioners. However, by a degree enacted in March, 1992, non-citizens of Nigeria or foreigners who have been found fit and proper can now practice law in Nigeria, if they satisfy all the conditions precedent for the call to the Nigerian Bar.

v  BODY OF BENCHERS:

Its main duty is to call and admit legal practitioners to the Bar. It is composed of distinguished members of the legal profession.  They are:

Ø    The Chief Justice of Nigeria and all the justices of the Supreme Court.

Ø    The Attorney-General of the Federation

Ø    The President of the Court of Appeal

Ø    The President of the Federal High Court

Ø    Chairman of the Council of Legal Education

Ø    The Attorneys-General of all States

Ø    The President of the Nigerian Bar Association

Ø    Members of the Nigerian Bar Association of not less than 15 years post-call experience. The body of Benchers is crated under section 2(1) of the Act[14].

TAKE NOTE that to be qualified to be called to the Nigerian Bar, you need a maximum of two body of benchers ‘LIFE BENCHERS’ and not ‘HONOURARY BENCHERS’ unless directed otherwise. 

v  THE PRIVILEGES COMMITTEE

Section 5(3) of the Act establishes a committee called the legal practitioners privileges committee which consists of the followings:

Ø    The Chief Justice who is the Chairman

Ø    The Attorney-General of the Federation

Ø    One Justice of the Supreme Court

Ø    The President of the Court of Appeal

Ø    Five of the Chief Judges of the States

Ø    The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court

Ø    Five Legal Practitioners who are legal practitioners.

The above section established a rank of legal practitioners known as the Senior Advocates of Nigeria. The rank is equivalent to that of the Queen’s Counsel (QC) which has been abolished in Nigeria[15]. A person is qualified for the rank if the person has practiced in Nigeria for a period not less than 10 years and if he has achieve a distinction in the legal profession in such manner as the committee may from time to time determine. And Senior Advocate of Nigeria upon appointment is said to have taken “the silk”. He must appear with a junior always and there is a minimum limit to the briefs he can take in terms of valuable consideration. His matters are accorded priority attention on the courts list. See generally section 5 of the Legal Practitioners Act.

CONDITIONS TO QUALIFY FOR ADMISSION AS A LEGAL PRACTITIONER IN NIGERIA ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1.          He must satisfy the body of benchers that he is of good character [He / She  must be FIT AND PROPER]

2.          He must  produce a qualifying certificate to the Benchers

(The above two are the conditions for Call to the Bar)

3.          He must have  his name enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme court of Nigeria

4.          He must show payment  of  his practicing fees.

S. 4(1) of the LPA                                                                            

NB: The qualifying certificate for Call is issued by the Council of Legal Education.

S. 5 of the Legal Education Act

 Also, take notice that the usage of ‘HE’ persistently above is deliberate; as it is a generic word for in our profession that applies to both men and women. Thus, in our noble profession, we do not have SHE; even a female judge is addressed as ‘HISLORDSHIP’ save for Lagos that tends to modify it by adding ‘MY LADY’

CONCLUSION

Conclusively, it is crystal clear from the above comparative analysis that the Nigerian legal profession derives its origin from the English legal system. It has indeed witnessed a remarkable growth since its inception to date.

Thus, it is our humble submission  that the regulatory bodies of the profession take very swift action in retaining and improving the standard of discipline in the legal profession which is gradually been eroded by the tide of civilization and improper training.

Thanks!

Long live HON. JUSTICE NIKI TOBI CHAMBERS

LONG LIVE FACULTY OF LAW

LONG LIVE RSU, PORT HARCOURT

LONG LIVE THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

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[1]    No. 407 1976

[2]    Ibid S. 71

[3]    Nigerian Laws 1948 Cap 211

[4]    No. 12 of 1962

[5]    No. 13 of 1962

[6]    Council for Legal Education

[7]      Legal Practitioners Act – Dealing with call to Bar

[8]      See Sections, 231, 238, 250, 256, 261, 266, 271, 276 an d281 of CFRN 1999 (As Amended).

[9]      1975 as Amended

[10]    An Association of Legal Practitioners in Nigeria

[11]    See Section 1 (2) of the LPA 1975.

[12]    See Sections 11 & 12 of the Act.

[13]    (1979) Digest of App. Cases 28

[14]    Legal Practitioners Act 1975

[15]   See Queen’s Counsel (Abolition) Act 1964 (No. 02 of 1964)