The Young Lawyers Forum of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called for improved welfare and basic minimum wage.
They made the call in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, at the end of their yearly summit. The theme was Raising the Bar and standards for young lawyers in the legal profession”.
A communiqué by Mr. Paul Babatunde Daudu and Mr. Okey Ohagba, chairman and Secretary of the Forum reads:
“On the issue of pupilage for young lawyers, the summit was divided between two schools of thought, some were for the re-introduction of compulsory pupilage while the others disagreed based on the reasoning that young lawyers should be allowed a choice of whether to submit to pupilage or to establish their own practices from the beginning, but majority of them supported the re-introduction of pupilage.”
They highlighted the imperatives of “hard working, competence , capability , confidence and truthfulness as necessary tools for success in the profession.
“That the young lawyer’s first duty is to uphold the ethics of the profession and good dress sense should be imbibed.
“That legal practice has developed vastly and so the need to specialise in a branch of law and end the era of general legal practice.
“That young lawyers should imbibe from the elders of the Bar those virtues that make for higher standards of excellence and commitment to Justice and jettison in us all those negative traits that have led to the fast declining standards in the Law profession
“The summit agreed that the NBA’s Legal Practitioners remuneration committee should be resuscitated to fix minimum fees for clients and that there should be a seal and stamps available to lawyers because it will safeguard and protect the integrity of the profession and also stem the tide of petitions against lawyers for unprofessional conduct.
“Participants also agreed that lawyers should always as a rule attend to clients in the office and never be in a hurry to charge clients without first studying their cases. The summit identified the various kinds of fees that are common which a young lawyer can use to ensure he charges an appropriate fee.
“The fees are: Consultation fees, contingency fees, appearance fees, flat fees, hourly fees, Participants also agreed that practice has gone global and lawyers need to be I.C.T compliant to meet the challenges ahead.
“That lawyers are not opposed to globalisation, but foreign lawyers must operate here under our own laws, but our regulatory framework must be streamlined and the local content law must be pushed to the fore front by demanding certain percentage of lawyers to be taken.
The Young lawyers noted that “ Nigerians do not have enough specialisation in law but, are into general practice and so young lawyers should avail themselves the opportunities of specialising in law. The major guiding principle is reciprocity and the Bar should insist that foreign legal practitioners pass through some level of legal education before being allowed to practice law in Nigeria.
The communiqué also stated: ”That young lawyers should endeavour to make use of the golden opportunity young lawyers have now as it is easier at this age for young lawyers to come together and collapse their practices into a partnership.
“That young lawyers should embrace foreign legal practitioners as it affords us opportunities to gain significant specialist experience.
That young lawyers are encouraged to launch out and specialise in areas of practice that the foreign firms are interested in so that when they come into Nigeria, we would be competitive enough to fit into their firms.
It called on young lawyers to endeavour to “identify mentors in the profession and to form alliances with established law firms to enhance their prospects noting that the entry of foreign legal practitioners into Nigeria is a threat to the already established firms but for young lawyers, it is an opportunity.
“That young lawyers should work on fixing minimum salaries that a young lawyer should be paid if employed by a senior lawyer.
“That corruption is a function of incompetence so young lawyers should pursue skill and knowledge in order to drive away poverty and that there are five elements of life that can propel a lawyer to the top and these are:
“To identify your purpose, to pursue the purpose, to be persistent and to persevere.
The summit was chaired by the Chief Judge of Rivers State who was represented by Justice Iyayi Lamikoro.
Other guests who graced the occasion and sent their goodwill messages include the NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN); Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General in Rivers State, Worgu Boms; former Presidents of the NBA, O.C.J. Okocha (SAN), J.B. Daudu (SAN) and G.I. Abibo (SAN); Funke Adekoya (SAN); Dele Adesina (SAN); General Secretary of the NBA Emeka Obegolu; Sebastine T. Hons (SAN), Chairman, NBA Port-Harcourt branch, Lawrence S. Oko-Jaja; Justice B.A Georgewill; Justice E.A. Okire; Justice A. Adebele and Hauwa Shekarau.