Courtroom decorum

Kehinde John Yekini Esq (a young lawyer) wrote on our facebook page, “How a counsel feels, when he or she is being televised, getting glued (while pinging, sharing post or pics, tweeting, whatsapping, zello or whatever, even reading e-newspapers or bloggers) at his or her phones as if a snooker game is on, beats imagination… […]

Kehinde John Yekini Esq (a young lawyer) wrote on our facebook page, “How a counsel feels, when he or she is being televised, getting glued (while pinging, sharing post or pics, tweeting, whatsapping, zello or whatever, even reading e-newspapers or bloggers) at his or her phones as if a snooker game is on, beats imagination… This habit of counsel, particularly young counsel, ‘romancing’ phones gropingly is ‘INSALIBRIOUS’ to our nobility…”, in the words of another young counsel ‘a disrespect to the sanctity of the courtroom.’
The courtroom to some young lawyers is a place to appear on a daily basis do the business of the day be it mention, motion or some other thing and leave, to another set of young lawyers the courtroom is a classroom (an avenue to learn and develop), whichever side of the fence one finds himself it is imperative and gentlemanly to give the courtroom its deserved respect.
This young wig and many alike are fond of playing with phones and tablets while court proceedings are going on, not with a deliberate attempt to disrespect the proceedings, some do it to avoid sleeping and your case is called only to wake up to the unfortunate reality of the case being struck out; some do it to kill time and boredom. Nevertheless, the courtroom is a theatre stage for lawyers to showcase the efficacy of law and justice, it is a place where brilliance, advocacy and knowledge of the law are put to test as such, should be taken seriously.
Newspapers, tabloids and other entertainment devices should be overlooked during court proceedings no matter how tempting it may be. What then is a young lawyer supposed to do to drive away boredom? To this writer, the court room is a valuable avenue for young lawyers to learn mistakes and improve upon them; what a young lawyer does in the law office is either confirmed as good or rejected by their learned worships/ lordships when  such lawyer presents his case before them.
When sitting at the Bar, a young lawyer’s focus ought to be on the proceedings happening in court, if not anything to learn something new in principles of law that we might not come across in the law firm. It was only recently at a Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna that I learnt the line between a right of appeal and right to stay of proceedings.  “Where the ruling of the Court of Appeal would not terminate proceedings at the lower court, it is not a case warranting grant of stay of proceedings” and this is just one out of several instances.
Ever notice the show of surprise your friends (laymen) make when chatting with them on social media and you say ‘am in court’ when they ask of our whereabouts. The surprise is natural because a layman has high regard to the court and what goes on in them; they know the fate of many Nigerians are decided therein as such they expect everything happening in them to be serious, then imagine a young  lawyer being captured on live television playing with phones and tablets.  We should aid the course of justice by being courteous and respectful to the court.
Being disrespectful is not only restricted to the use of mobile devices, it also goes to the manner in which we appear in court, converse with learned colleagues and our general behaviour when sitting in the Bar. It is also the duty of a legal practitioner to inform his clients (litigants in the instant case) who might be unaware with the workings of the court on how best to conduct themselves during court proceedings.
No matter how tiring, tedious or ‘boring’ court proceedings may appear to be, it is imperative and noble that a young lawyer does the needful to ensure he doesn’t bring the image of the court and the legal profession to disrepute in the eyes of the society.

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