History of the Legal Profession in Nigeria

The history of the legal profession in Nigeria is tied to our history as a nation. 

Prior to the establishment of the Nigerian law school in 1962, training of lawyers was done mainly in the United Kingdom. The history of NLS is thus divided into 3 stages or era as follows:

1. 1876-1914

During this period, those called to the Irish Bar and English Bar is equally qualified to practice law in Nigeria. Order 15 of the 1876 Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules empowered the Chief Justice of the Federation to admit anybody who is entitled to practice as barrister or solicitor in England, Scotland or Ireland and of good character to practice in Nigeria. Three  categories of people where allowed to practice law in Nigeria were:

• Professionally Qualified Legal Practitioners - By S.71 of the SC Ordinance of 1876, you must be called to bar or admitted as solicitor in Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Edinburgh or Dublin. If you meet this criteria and you’re of good character, you would be given automatic enrolment upon application to the Chief Justice of Nigeria. Now Almost all of them were barristers. The Bar exam was introduced in 1872 in England. Law Society exam was introduced much earlier
• Those who have served articles: By S.73 of the Supreme Court Ordinance 1876, these persons would have served in the law office of a qualified lawyer, in Nigeria or the Gold Coast, for not less than 5 years. In addition, they would have sat for and passed the exams conducted by persons appointed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria
• Local Attorneys: S.74 of the Ordinance authorized the CJ to appoint them due to dearth of qualified practitioners. They must be fit and proper persons with basic education, good moral character testified to by a judge or two District Commissioners. They would have sat for and passed the exam set by the CJ. The exam was designed to test their general knowledge on the principles and practice of law. This was by appointment (not enrolment) for 6 months which was renewable for another 6 months at a time. Britons, West Indians & few Nigerians were appointed. The abuse of the office by the Local Attorneys resulted in the pressure from qualified lawyers on the CJ to stop their further appointment. The last applicant, J. Osho Davies who was denied, had his appeal refused by the full court on the ground that the chief Justices discretion was properly exercised in the circumstance.

2. 1914-1962

This period saw the era of indigenous lawyers trained in England and other U.K countries. During this period, practice was restricted to professionally qualified lawyers, that is, barristers & solicitors.

3. 1962 - Till Date

This is the current era. Under this era, the Nigerian Law School was established as a result of the following deficiencies flowing from other periods:

• A degree was not required, the minimum educational requirement was GCE or O’ level, therefore some Nigerians who were not graduates were called to bar.
• The training did not take into cognizance the peculiarity of the Nigerian legal system
• In U.K a person is either trained as a Barrister or a Solicitor but upon return to Nigeria, the person practices in both capacity

The above deficiencies led to the formation of the Unsworth Committee in 1959. The committee came up with several recommendations one of which includes the establishment of the NLS. These recommendations were adopted and it birthed the Council of Legal Education Act 1962 pursuant to which the NLS was established.

The NLS started with eight students in 1963 at No 213A Igbosere Road Lagos where it remained until 1966.

Persons Entitled to Practice In Nigeria

The following persons can practice in Nigeria:

1. Persons entitled to practice by virtue of their office; e.g. the A.G, Solicitor General

2. Persons entitled to practice generally; e.g. all legal practitioners enrolled at the Supreme Court.

3. Persons entitled to practice for the purpose of a particular proceeding by Warrant granted by the Chief Justice of Nigeria. Such a person can only handle the matter for which the warrant was granted.

Conditions to Qualify for Admission as a Legal Practitioner in Nigeria

To qualify for admission as a Legal Practitioner in Nigeria, an individual must satisfy the following conditions

• He satisfies the Benchers that he is of good character
• He produces a qualifying certificate to the Benchers

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

• He has his name enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court
• He has paid his practicing fees.

See S. 4(1) of the LPA

NB: The qualifying certificate for Call is issued by the Council of Legal Education. See S. 5 of the Legal Education Act

Conditions for enrolment at the Supreme Court are:

A new Wig is expected to immediately or as soon as practicable go to the Supreme Court for enrolment. The following are conditions for enrolment:

1. That a person has been called to the Bar by the Benchers, and

2. He produces the Certificate of his call to the Bar to the Registrar of the

Supreme Court. See S. 7 (1) of the LPA

Exemption from Attendance of the Nigerian Law School

Under certain circumstances, a person may be entitled to either FULL or PARTIAL exemption from attending the NLS.

(A) PARTIAL EXEMPTION from Attendance of the Nigerian Law School (Exemption from Bar Part I)

a. Graduate of Law from Common Law jurisdiction teaching Law in a Faculty of law in Nigeria for a period of 5 years

b. A graduate of a non-common law jurisdiction who has taught law for 10 years in Faculty of law in Nigeria and above are exempted from the Bar Part I programme of the Nigerian Law School. See S. 2(a) & (b) of the Legal Education (Consolidation) Act 1976.

(B) FULL EXEMPTION: Here a person is not to attend the Bar II programme provided he is:

(a) A Nigerian citizen.

(b) Qualified to be admitted to the Law School.

(c) But lost the opportunity to attend the NLS for reasons beyond his control. 

(d)His subjects trained on are the qualifying subjects of the Nigerian Law School.

(e) He has over the years gathered enough knowledge and experience for a period not less than five (years) that it will be unreasonable to require him to attend Nigerian Law School 

•In August 1860 Lagos was ceded to the Queen of England and 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.

•It provided inter-alia:

•“that the laws of England shall have the same force and be administered in this settlement as in England so far as such laws and such administration thereof can be rendered applicable to the circumstances of this settlement”.

•The problem of this legal system was that there was shortage of qualified personnel to man the court.

• There was also shortage of court facilities and other resources. This led to the employment of lay-men without the knowledge of the law to administer the new legal system.

• 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.

 

PERIOD OF 1914-1962

BARRISTERS

•To be a barrister, one needed to join one of the four inns of court in England namely:

•Middle Temple, Inner Temple, Gray’s Inn and the Lincoln’s Inn, where he did Bar part one and Bar part two.

•Educational qualification was WASC.

•The 4 Inns forming the English Council arranged lectures on the various subjects and attendance at lectures was discretionary.

•Many students took private tuition or subscribed to correspondence course.

•There were 12 compulsory dinning terms of which there were 4 in a year.

•Students must pass both bar part one and bar part two and keep all the dinning terms.

•Thereafter, they are  called to bar by the Body of Benchers of the particular Inn they joined and  subsequently  enrolled at the Supreme Court of England.

•If the fellow intended to practice in England, he must take a 3 months post-call practical course and serve pupilage in a law chambers for one year.

•Until recently, he paid a fee of 100 Guineas to the head of chambers where he did pupilage.

•No fee is now required.

•He is not to earn any fee in the first 6 months of his practice. Thereafter he can earn fees.

 

GRADUATE BARRISTERS

•Though a law degree was not required to join the Inns, there were  people who came in with a degree in law to join the Inns.

•Those of them with second class honors were exempted from Bar Part One

• So that they read for only 2 years and

•They were started with an enhanced salary scale in Nigeria against their non-graduate counterparts.

BARRISTERS WORK

•The barristers work consists of representing clients in court, drafting the court processes and giving legal opinions on matters referred to him by the solicitor.

•A barrister has no direct contact with the clients but is appointed in the case by the solicitor when it is ripe for litigation.  

 

SOLICITORS

•To be a solicitor, you would need to join a firm of solicitors.

•Minimum qualification was also WASC.

•Training was by the Law Society.

•Training of solicitors lasted for 4 years (2yrs for Solicitors part one and another 2 years for Solicitors part two).

 

GRADUATE SOLCITORS

•Though university degree was not required to join the Law Society to train as a solicitor, there were candidates who acquired university degree before joining.

•Those with second class honors were exempted from solicitors part one course so that they trained for only 2 years.

•They were also given an enhanced salary structure in Nigeria against the non-graduate solicitors.

 

SOLICITORS WORK

•The solicitor in England is the general legal adviser to the citizens.

•He draws up leases and conveyances.

•Drafts Wills, prepares commercial agreements.

•Where a dispute is ripe for court, he appoints a barrister to settle the pleadings and conduct the case in court.

•He also seek legal advice from the barrister from time to time on behalf of his clients.

•He pays the barrister.

DEFICIENCIES OF AN ENGLISH TRAINED LAWYER PRACTICING IN NIGERIA

   

   Because these lawyers were trained in England and imported into Nigeria to practice the profession in a totally different environment, there were some obvious deficiencies as follows:

•In England he is trained either as a barrister or a solicitor, and he practices there as such, while in Nigeria he practices as both.

2.    He Studied English textbooks and law reports which at best are merely persuasive within the Nigerian jurisdiction. For example in constitutional law, he studied a unitary system of government while Nigeria is a federation.

3.    He had no knowledge of our customary law which is a  substantial part of our legal system.

4.    Almost all of them trained as barristers and  without university degree.

5. Most of them did not do the 3 months post-call practical course which they would have been required to do if they were practicing in England.

6. They did not engage in the one year pupilage to sharpen their skills.

7. There was no mandatory course of lecture. Only dinner was compulsory.

 

ABSENCE OF THE 3 MONTHS POST-CALL PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

•It must be noted that this particular deficiency did not last beyond 1945 and here is why:

•The Supreme Court Ordinance of 1876 was replaced by that of 1943.

•The Supreme Court (Civil Procedure) Rules of 1945 was validated by the 1943 Ordinance.

•The 1945 Supreme Court Rules at Order 16 Rule 1 provided 3 additional grounds for enrollment of lawyers in Nigeria.

•The Chief Justice of Nigeria may in his discretion approve, admit and enroll to practice as barrister and solicitor in court any person who inter alia, had any of the following:

a.  He has read in the chambers of a practicing barrister or advocate of more than five years standing, for at    least one year, or has practiced in the courts of the country in which he has been called or admitted, for at least two years subsequent to his call or    admission; or

•b. He has subsequent to his call to the bar or admission as an advocate, read    in Nigeria in the chambers of a    practicing barrister of more than ten    years standing for at least two years;    and finally,

•c.    He has practiced as a barrister or    solicitor in the courts of a British    colony or protectorate for at least two    years.

•These were the conditions for the admission to practice law in Nigeria from 1945-1962 when the current new regulations were introduced.

•To correct the other anomalies, the Unsworth’s Committee was appointed in April 1959.

•The committee was composed of the regional Attorneys General, the Solicitor General of the Federation, the Legal Secretary of the Southern Cameroons and six distinguished legal practitioners under the chairmanship of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr E.I.G Unsworth.  

COMMITTEE’S TERMS OF REFERENCE.

•The Committee was mandated “to consider and make recommendations for the future of the legal education and admission to practice, the right of audience before the court, and the making of reciprocal arrangement in this connection with other countries”.

COMMITTEE’S RECOMMENDATIONS

   From the Committees report published in October 1959 the following recommendations were made:

•That Nigeria should establish its own system of legal education.

•That a faculty of law should be  established in Nigeria.

•That a law school to be known as the Nigerian Law School, to provide vocational course, should be established in Lagos.

4. That the qualification for admission to legal practice in Nigeria should be a degree in law of any university whose course for the degree is organized by the Council of Legal Education and the vocational course prescribed by the Council (at the school established by it).

5. That any person graduating in law from a university which has not accepted the syllabus recommended by the Council of Legal Education, should be required to take further examination as the Council may prescribe.

6. That a Council of Legal Education should be established.

•These recommendations were accepted and translated into law in the nature of the Legal Education Act of 1962 and the Legal Practitioners Act of 1962.

•The Law School was set up in 1962 and ran its first 3 months course for 8 students in a building acquired by the Council at No. 213 Igbosere Road Lagos, from Jan- April 1963.

POST 1962 PERIOD

•In this current period, three categories of people could practice.

•This is traceable in the 1962 Legal Practitioners Act now Cap. L II Vol.8 LFN 2004 at S.24.

•This section defines a legal practitioner to be, “a person entitled in accordance with the Legal Practitioners Act to practice as a barrister and solicitor either generally or for the purpose of any particular office or proceedings”.

   The 3 categories from this definition are as follows:

•Those entitled to practice generally.

•Those entitled to practice for the purpose of any particular office and

•Those entitled to practice for the purpose of any particular proceedings.

THOSE ENTITLED TO PRACTICE GENERALLY

•A person can only practice generally if and only if his name is on the roll of legal practitioners kept by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. See S. 2(1) of the LPA.

•How then does your name enter the roll?

•The Act at S.7(1) further provides that a person shall be entitled to have his name on the roll if and only if:

•He has been called to Bar by the Body of Benchers and,

•He produces a certificate of call to bar to the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court.

HOW DOES ONE GET CALLED TO THE NIGERIAN BAR

•S.4(1) of the LPA as amended by the Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Decree No.9 of 1992, states the conditions for call to the Nigerian Bar as follows.

•A person shall be entitled to be called to Bar if:

•He is a citizen of Nigeria.

•He produces a Qualifying Certificate to the Body of Benchers and,

•He satisfies the Benchers that he is a person of good character.

•Note that non-citizens may now be called to Nigerian Bar if they satisfy conditions (b) & (c) above. See Decree 8 & 9 of 1992.

PRODUCTION OF QUALIFYING CERTIFICATE

•It is the responsibility of the Council of Legal Education to issue a Qualifying Certificate stating that a person is a fit and proper person to be called to the Nigerian Bar.

•Before this is done, the candidate is required to meet two conditions as prescribed in S. 5 of the Legal Education (Consolidation etc) Act as follows:

•The fellow must be a citizen of Nigerian.

•He must have a successful completion of a course of practical training at the Nigerian Law School Which, ( including the time spent for the examination at the end, but excluding any interval between the conclusion of the exams and the announcement of the result thereof), lasted for a period fixed by the Council as an academic year.

•Note that 75% attendance of lectures is compulsory, otherwise, the student will not be allowed to sit for the bar exam.

•Other programs, like the chambers and court attachment, (ie externship program) and portfolio assessment are also compulsory.

EXEMPTION FROM COURSE

•The Council is empowered by S. 5 (2)(a) & (b) of the Legal Education (Consolidation etc) Act 1976 to waive the requirement of attendance of the course at the Law School before issuing a qualifying certificate.

•This power is very exceptionally exercised under the Professional Bodies Special Provisions Act of 1972 and

•The Professional Bodies (Legal Profession) Exemption Order of 1973.

•The Council in exercise of its powers has, in Legal Notice NO. 439 of 5th July 1989 set out the criteria for exemption from attendance at the Law School as follows:

THE CRITERIA FOR FULL EXEMPTION

•He must be is a Nigerian citizen.

•He is qualified to be admitted to the law school.

•His qualifying subjects for admission to the Law School includes, all the core subjects prescribed by the Council of Legal Education.

•He has acquired knowledge and experience in the practice of the profession for upwards of 5 years.

•And lastly, at the time he qualified for admission to the law school, or a reasonable time thereafter, he lost the opportunity of doing so for reasons beyond his control.

CRITERIA FOR PARTIAL EXEMPTION

•Graduates from common law jurisdictions who have been teaching law in a Nigerian university for upwards of 5 years are exempted from the Bar part 1 course.

•Secondly, graduates from non-common law jurisdictions who have taught law in a Faculty of Law in a Nigerian university for upwards of 10 years are also eligible for exemption from the Bar part 1 course. See Legal Notice No. 446 of 3rd August 1989.

THOSE ENTITLED TO PRACTICE BY VIRTUE OF OFFICE S.2(3)LPA

•Attorney General, Solicitor General and Director Public Prosecution, whether of the Federation or of a State.

•Such offices in the public service of the Federation or of a State as the Attorney General of the Federation or of a State, may by order, specify to be entitled to practice as a barrister and solicitor for the purpose of that office.

   See for example, the offices designated by the Legal Practitioners Act (Entitlement to Practice as a Barrister and Solicitor) Federal Offices Order 1963.

THOSE ENTITLED TO PRACTICE FOR THE PURPOSE OF PARTICULAR PROCEEDINGS S.2(2) LPA

•“If an application under this subsection is made to the Chief Justice by or on behalf of any person appearing to him to be qualified to practice as an advocate in any country where the legal system is similar to that of Nigeria, and (he) is of the opinion that it is expedient to permit that person to practice as a barrister for the purpose of proceedings described in the application, he may by warrant under his hand, authorize that person, on payment to the Registrar, of such fee not exceeding fifty naira…, to practice as a barrister for the purpose of those proceedings…”

 

 

•You may look at the case of Awolowo v Usman Sarki, Minister of Internal Affairs and Attorney General of the Federation (1962) LLR 177 or (1966) NSCC 209.

• Further on the limits to right of choice of counsel, see Nwambe v State (1995) 3 NWLR (pt.384) p. 385;

• Iboko v C.O.P (1965)NWLR 384
• Uzodima v C.O.P (1982) 3 NCLR 325
• •Sadikwu v Dalori (1996) 5 NWLR (pt.447) p.151
• •Oyeniran v Egbetola (1997) 5 SCNJ 94
• Ceekay Traders Ltd v General Motors Coy Ltd.(1992) 2 NWLR (pt.222) 132;

• Compare the above cases with the case of Rewane v Okotie-Eboh (1960) SCNLR 461