Rather than keep the law, some lawyers are breaking it, according to Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen and Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Opeyemi Oke. According to them, these lawyers forge court judgments to suit their whims. Some do it to be made SANs. How can they be stopped? ERIC IKHILAE reports.
One major threat to professionalism in legal practice was the prevalence of fake lawyers. Cases abound where individuals, who claimed to be lawyers, were found to be fake.
To address this challenge, various measures were put in place by regulators. One is the recently-introduced stamp, which every registered lawyer is expected to have and affix to any document he/she authors or endorses.
While it seems the problem of impersonation had been addressed, a new challenge of forged judgments has cropped up.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, blew the lid off this worrisome development on September 24, this year, when he disclosed that some lawyers forge court judgments.
Justice Onnoghen, who was addressing a packed courtroom, during the Supreme Court’s 2018/2019 new legal year celebration and the conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), jolted all when he disclosed that some lawyers submitted forged judgments in their application for SAN.
The CJN said: “I have to point out the fact that, in the just-concluded exercise, some applicants were found to have engaged in dishonourable conduct, such as forgery of judgments, resulting in their being reported to the Police for investigation and possible prosecution.
“We have to know that if one is not for any reason qualified to wear silk as a Judicial Officer, he cannot wear it as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.”
He did not name the lawyers.
Nigerians were yet to fully digest this bombshell from the CJN when the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke, drew the nation’s attention to a similar discovery in her jurisdiction. This time, the alleged culprit, was identified as Edward Oseghale.
Oseghale was said to have been engaged by a property owner in relation to a case involving the landlord and a tenant. Rather than diligently prosecute the case, the lawyer reportedly forged a judgment to meet his client’s interest.
The Chief Registrar of the Lagos High Court, Taiwo Olatokun, who represented Justice Oke, alleged on September 25, that Oseghale altered a judgment he earlier obtained in a separate case, but with similar suit number, but different year, and presented it as the judgment in the new case.
The lawyer was, however, exposed when the defendant, who was sceptical about the authenticity of the judgment, went to the court to ask for a true copy of the judgment, only to discover that the said judgment did not exist.
The Registrar said: “We had a report that a supposed defendant asked for the certified true copy of a judgment. He (the defendant) produced what he had and the Magistrate in the case realised there is a fake suit number in the document.
“The lawyer (Oseghale) also had another matter in another court, which had the same suit number, but different dates. And we also confirmed that there was no such matter before that court.
“The false judgment also had the stamp of the Assistant Chief Registrar, who admitted that she had not signed the document.
“The matter is already in the hands of the police and we will ensure that he is prosecuted. The officers of the Lagos State Judiciary who are involved are willing to testify against him. The lawyer (Oseghale) would have gotten away with it, if the defence counsel had not come to court.”
The Registrar said forgery among lawyers was not new.
Effects on the profession
To observers, the increase in cases of forgery among lawyers has thrown up a major issue of ethical challenge in the legal profession, which must be addressed in view of, not only its damage to the dignity and integrity of the profession, but its harmful effect on the society.
They argue that where an unsuspecting litigant or client engages the services of a lawyer to conduct a case or procure documents, only to discover that the product is forged, after expending funds and time, will not only do damage to the profession, but also to the client who had expended his/her resources.
There is also the argument that the victim, in some instances, could land in trouble for tendering forged documents, even when it was not his or her making.
The Lagos High Court’s Registrar expressed similar worry when she noted that the “the issue of false judgments, rulings and orders had become a source of embarrassment to the state judiciary.
“We have gotten emails from various embassies as well as countries like the United Kingdom and the United States requesting to confirm the authenticity of some of these documents. In a lot of instances, they turn out to be fake.
“This is a serious matter; it is painful to the Chief Judge, because some of these forged documents have been acted upon abroad. I have been a victim of individuals forging court documents; my signature has been forged on some of these documents,” Mrs. Olakotun said.
A SAN, Sebastine Hon, warned that, if not addressed, things would get out of hand, because many would be tempted to adopt the practice.
Measures to address the challenge
Observers have suggested that stringent measures should be adopted to curb the practice in view of its negative effect on lawyers who describe themselves as “learned.”
To enhance its capacity to detect any forged judgments/documents in future, the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), the body saddled with conferring the SANship on deserving lawyers, has reviewed its guidelines for the award.
In the just-reviewed “2018 Guidelines for the conferment of SANship and matters pertaining to the rank,” issued on August 31, this year, applicants are required to provide more details about judgments and other documents to be submitted.
In Paragraph 14, which is the longest, the guidelines dwell on the requirements for the judgments and other documents to be submitted by applicants. The section is sub-titled: “Particulars of contested cases and documents.”
The paragraph states:
“(l) Every applicant will be required to provide particulars of contested cases which he considers to be of particular significance to the evaluation of his competence in legal practice and contribution to the development of the law. The applicant shall attach a certified true copy of all the judgments referred to in his application which shall be neatly arranged. indexed and bound as well as appearances marked/identified and flagged. In addition, the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee shall require a detailed table of appearances showing pages where participation was recorded on the certified true copies of record of trial proceedings.
(2) Where cases are reported in a well-known law report, the applicant shall in addition to providing the citation also attach copies of the reported case.
(3) Where the cases are not reported the applicant shall provide certified hard copies and a soft copy of such cases along with his completed application form.
(4) All judgments submitted by the applicant must show that the applicant‘s name is reflected as having duly conducted the case as lead counsel.
(5) An applicant shall provide particulars of cases as follows
(a) 20 final judgments of the High Court or Superior Court of Records provided that in respect of such cases conducted at the High Court or Superior Court of Records, an applicant shall provide certified true copies of complete record of trial proceedings and processes signed and filed by the applicant (excluding exhibits) and a soft copy in at least twelve contested cases from trial stage to judgment, showing that the Applicant as counsel substantially conducted the trial. In addition, an applicant shall provide letters of instruction from the client(s) as well as a letter from the Head of Court or judge that delivered the judgment, confirming/verifying the applicant as counsel that conducted the case from trial stage to judgment.
(b) 5 final judgments of the Court of Appeal supported by briefs along with valid notices of appeal duly settled and argued by the applicant;
(c) 4 final judgments of the Supreme Court supported by briefs along with valid notices of appeal duly settled and argued by the applicant; however, where it is manifest that the applicant himself has conducted the case from the High Court up to the Supreme Court, he will be required to submit 3 final judgments of the Supreme Court supported by appellant/ respondent briefs along with valid notices of appeal duly settled at appellate courts and argued at the three tiers of courts;
(d) Final judgment under paragraph l4,5(a), (b) and (c) means the decision of a court of competent jurisdiction which decides and or determines the rights, interests and obligations of parties to its logical conclusion or finality and does not include bench judgements/rulings, consent judgements. judgements in non-contested cases like default judgements and judgements in undefended suits;
(e) Subject to paragraph 14(5), documents to be presented by applicants includes:
(i) For record of trial proceedings of the High Court or other Superior Court of Records in civil cases, the documents are: Writ of summons/ originating processes, statement of claim or statement of defence, counter-affidavit, reply and written address.
(ii) For record of trial proceedings of the High Court or other Superior Court of Records in criminal cases, the documents are: Charge/information sheet, final written addresses as well as final address on no-case submission.
(iii) For appellate cases under paragraph 14(5) (b) and (c) the documents are: Judgment appealed against, notice of appeal, appellant brief or respondent brief, respondent’s notice and reply brief.
(6) Where it is discovered that a candidate whose application contains any alteration, imprint or false information calculated to mislead. such a candidate shall be blacklisted from applying for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and shall be prosecuted with any other person involved as the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee may deem fit.
(7) In providing particulars of contested cases, an Applicant shall provide particulars of recent cases decided within 10 (ten) years preceding the date of application and which demonstrate that the applicant is (a) Currently engaged in fulltime legal practice; and (b) Abreast with current developments in the field of law.”
On its part, the Lagos State High Court has introduced a seal, with some distinguishing features, to be affixed to documents issued by the court.
Mrs. Olatokun said: “We have introduced the use of a seal, even though the seal is being forged, the original one has a distinct feature. When placed under a light, parts of the seal will turn blue that will prove its authenticity.”
How to curb forgery in legal practice
While observers and lawyers commend the measures so far adopted to address this challenge, many said more were still required.
Hon described the practice whereby lawyers submit forged judgments for the highest rank in the legal profession as “unsalutary and condemnable. He argued that the development was a reflection of “what is going on in the society, where people, who do not merit anything, resort to cutting corners to get what they want.”
He praised the LPPC for its diligence in detecting the fraud. He supported the committee’s decision to refer the case to the police for more investigation, urging the police to conduct a thorough investigation, prosecute and secure conviction, where offences have been disclosed.
To him, the alleged offence, if proved, also amounts to professional misconduct, which would require the involvement of the LPDC to hand out appropriat punishments to the culprits.
He added: “That will act as deterrent to people, who may be tempted to take such similar steps, otherwise it is a dent on the coveted rank of SAN. This is because if they (the regulators) do not vigorously pursue this, you will see a lot of people trying to abuse the system. And it would not be good for anybody’s image.
“There is the need then to have all judgments of the Supreme Court reported on time. If all judgments of the apex court are reported within two months, it will be easy to verify any judgment submitted to the screening committee by applicants for the rank of SAN.”
Another SAN, Chief Mike Ozekhome, expressed similar view. He said the lawyers found of forgery should not only be prosecuted and jailed, if found guilty; they should also be banned from practising.
He added: “The issue of forgery also amounts to grave professional misconduct. After prosecuting such lawyers, they should be handed to the LPDC, who should look into it with a view to disbarring such lawyers, by stopping them from ever practising law again.”
A senior member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, Dr. Abubakar Quadri argued that the problem arose because the society lacks without value system, adding that morality and decency have been consumed by the urge to succeed at all cost.
Quadri said: “What do you expect in a society where the majority of the leaders parade fake certificates, and where merit has been supplanted with mediocrity?
“Be that as it may, there is the need for a concerted effort of stakeholders in the profession to address this challenge. The NBA should take the lead in this and ensure that its members are not involved in this crime. Because, the effect on the society could be catastrophic.”