This article was first featured in the Insight newsletter.
By Akinmade Afikuyomi, Esq.
Introduction
The Nigerian Legal Profession presents both academic and practical challenges for young lawyers looking to establish themselves. One of the most significant academic challenges lies in the prevalence of conflicting judgements on key legal principles even among courts with concurrent jurisdiction. Practical challenges facing a young lawyer include the high cost of starting an independent practice, limited access to professional mentorships and networks and low remuneration.
This paper will examine these challenges and attempt to provide solutions to challenges faced in a profession where there are less than 3000 listed law firms.
Academic Challenge: Conflicting Judgements in the Nigerian Legal System
Stare decisis, a cornerstone of the Legal System, provides lawyers with the most important tool when any legal challenge is put before them. The ability to ensure predictability and consistency when dealing with legal problems. Weaknesses in this doctrine spells doom for the entire System.
Whilst conflicting judicial decisions affect all players in the Nigerian Legal Profession, it is particularly daunting for young lawyers who lack experience and are developing confidence in legal interpretation.
Per Incuriam or Conflict?
It is important to distinguish between decisions made per incuriam and a Conflict, while decisions made per incuriam in the Nigerian Legal Profession pose a challenge in themselves, from an academic standpoint a young lawyer should recognise that where a decision is made per incuriam, ‘it does not possess for this Court any binding effect and this Court is entitled to disregard it.’
(Okonkwo Ngwo & Ors v Raphael Monye & Others.)
When a lawyer encounters a decision that appears to have been made per incuriam, the proper approach is to rely on the earlier authority where the principle was correctly established.
Challenges conflicts in judicial pronouncements present
A recent address by the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria illustrated the problem. Represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun, He refers to the question of the competence of Originating processes Signed in a law firm’s name.
Whilst in the cases of Okafor V. Nweke and FBN V Maiwada the Supreme Court held that such processes were incompetent, a later decision in Olowe V. Aluko took a more liberal approach to the question, while Menakaya V Ezim, which was a few weeks later, seemed to revert back to the old position without speaking to the decision in Aluko.
Practical challenges created by such Conflicts
These inconsistencies create academic and practical challenges for young lawyers. Consider two common scenarios:
- Where a young lawyer has an independent practice and is uncertain as to which position to take, he might have no lawyer of experience to rely upon for guidance on the issue.
- Where a junior associate at a multinational law firm is asked to advise on which position the firm should adopt, the position established in Okafor or the more liberal approach in Aluko?
Both scenarios pose a significant academic challenge for young lawyers in the profession and as of today there is no real solution to the problem.
Looking Ahead
It is important that the Judiciary looks back, whilst the judiciary must make pronouncements with more regard for established precedents, that is not enough to remedy the situation, it must revisit and clarify past conflicts on important legal questions.
As previously highlighted, whilst inconsistent pronouncements affect the entire profession, it presents a unique challenge for young lawyers who lack the experience to know what to do when confronted with Conflicts.
There is also a need for improved mentorships and access for young lawyers to seek guidance when navigating these academic challenges.
The next section of this paper will consider how improved mentorships and institutional support can help ease the challenges faced by Young Lawyers.
Practical Challenges: Limited access to professional membership and networks
Professional Legal Bodies and Mentorship programmes are essential tools for young lawyers around the world, whilst passing the bar gives a lawyer the academic foundation to embark on a career as a legal practitioner, the gap in their experience can be filled by:
- Continuous professional development (CPD)
- Mentorship programmes
- Legal organisations and professional bodies
The Current Regime in the Nigerian Legal System
Several alarms have been raised over the lack of a mentorship regime in the Nigerian Legal Profession, most notably from Justice Emmanuel Agim who called for a complete overhaul of mentorship within the legal community.
He emphasised that the lack of a robust mentoring structure in the Nigerian Legal Profession contributes to young lawyers lacking in competent and ethical legal practices.
Other jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom have hundreds of mentorship schemes available to young lawyers both in law firms and through professional bodies such as the Law Society and the London Court of International Arbitration.
Whilst the Nigerian Bar Association Young Lawyers forum recently launched a mentorship programme it will need to develop and can hopefully serve as an important avenue for young lawyers to find mentors.
Young lawyers also have challenges gaining access to professional memberships and networks, the main reason for this is the cost and other high barriers to entry which is exasperated by the low remuneration available to young lawyers.
A good example to illustrate this is the most recent Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference. An area of concern for the vast majority of young lawyers was that they would not be able to attend the conference due to the high cost of over 50,000 naira, excluding accommodation and transportation.
It was estimated that in 2022 the average lawyer’s salary was fifty thousand naira per month. This would suggest that a young lawyer would have to use the entirety of their monthly salary to afford a conference which should be essential to their CPD.
Most simply would not attend, diminishing the impact of the conference and further limiting young lawyers from having access to an important avenue for networking.
It is essential for the Nigerian Bar Association to play an active role in ensuring that young lawyers have more access to professional memberships and networking, there should be requirements for law firms to invest in this and schemes to help independent young lawyers gain access to professional bodies and conferences, through grants and subsidies.
High costs to gain access remain a big contributor to the apathy of many young lawyers to join professional bodies and attend networking events.
High Cost of starting an Independent practice
At first glance one might assume establishing an independent practice is only done by experienced lawyers therefore young lawyers would not run into the challenge of the high cost of starting an independent practice.
However, it is important to consider the context of the Nigerian Legal profession. Due to the limited employment opportunities available to young lawyers, many are compelled to start their own firms far earlier than their counterparts in other jurisdictions.
As stated earlier there are just under 3000 registered Law Firms in Nigeria, 25 Firms are considered ‘Large Firms’ and it is estimated that Sole Practitionerships account for 98% and larger law firms account for just 2%.
There are over 5000 new Lawyers every year and less than 1,200 jobs at top firms.
Low Remuneration
Low Remuneration is a relatively obvious challenge facing young Lawyers in Nigeria however it remains extremely difficult to remedy.
There are two major reasons why the issue is so difficult to navigate:
- The Nigerian Bar association is limited in its role, its mandate “does not extend to setting wages”
- The context of the Nigerian Legal Profession, the majority of young lawyers are either unemployed or not attached to a big law firm.
Why is Low Remuneration a Concern?
Low Remuneration is one of the most persistent challenges facing young lawyers in Nigeria.
For the few who are able to land Jobs in law firms, inevitable financial struggles will lead to poor output in their work and seriously affect their mental well being.
Whilst a young lawyer’s performance is important to the development of their legal career, what is more important is their well being.
Many senior lawyers have argued that remuneration should not be a motivator for a young lawyer, but this view is ignorant of the current social and economic climate in Nigeria.
At law firms, young Nigerian lawyers do not enjoy the benefits of many of their counterparts in other Jurisdictions, this includes access to professional memberships and networking events, as well as adequate health insurance.
The added pressure of working long hours for a salary that most likely cannot cover basic needs is a daunting proposition for many young lawyers.
It is difficult to envisage a short-term solution to the challenge of low remuneration, the profession needs to address and create awareness around it, firms should be encouraged to do more to support young lawyers, while further financial support and grants should be given to lawyers who choose to operate an independent practice.
Conclusion
Having examined the academic and practical challenges unique to a young Nigerian lawyer, it is clear that the profession is not doing enough to address them.
The persistence of these challenges will continue to undermine the professional standards and credibility of the Nigerian Legal Profession, as well as continue to push many young lawyers away.
Less than 30% of young lawyers are gainfully employed, this trend will continue if urgent action is not taken to address the issues discussed.
Experienced lawyers, the Judiciary, and the Nigerian Bar Association must do more to raise awareness on these challenges and begin to address them.
Akinmade Afikuyomi Esq.
is an attorney at Liberty Semper Fidelis LP