Do we really need the wig and gown?

The wig and gown are the gab adorned by legal practitioners in Nigeria, it is worn by lawyers when appearing before superior courts of record (High Court, Court of Appeal, or Supreme Court). As it stands in Nigeria, lawyers do not wear the wig and gown to Magistrate Courts, or Shari’ah Courts. Our colonial masters, […]

The wig and gown are the gab adorned by legal practitioners in Nigeria, it is worn by lawyers when appearing before superior courts of record (High Court, Court of Appeal, or Supreme Court). As it stands in Nigeria, lawyers do not wear the wig and gown to Magistrate Courts, or Shari’ah Courts. Our colonial masters, who still adorn the gown when appearing in courts, introduced the practice of wearing the wig and gown by lawyers when appearing in court.

Someone once asked, how come in American movies lawyers only wore suits to court as opposed to the wig and gown we wear in Nigeria? The reason is not far-fetched, our practice of law is similar or closely related with that of the British system. Does it then mean that we cannot adopt the American system of law because they did not colonise us? Absolutely not, we can restructure the legal profession to fit our purpose and current trend of practice; that is the essence of our topic of discussion and the birth of the Legal Profession Regulation Review Committee (LPRRC).

As usual, the question of whether we need the wig and gown in our legal system has sparked mixed reactions: to one of school of thought, the wig and gown are an inspiration to lawyers, adorning the wig and gown gives a sense of satisfaction, it also gives respect to legal practitioners, and make the clients respect the profession when in court. To this school of thought the wig and gown differentiates the legal profession from other professions.

To another school of thought, the wig and gown add no real value to the outcome of a case handled by a lawyer, or how a lawyer argues his case, if it were so, how come when appearing in suit before a magistrate court, or arbitral tribunal, a lawyer still does well depending on his/her lawyering skills? To this school of thought, it is not the wig and gown that bring respect to a lawyer but rather the words, actions and conduct of a legal practitioner that distinguishes him/her from other profession.

Jerome Iroagalachi asked ‘if a bricklayer wears the wig and gown, does it make him a person worthy of recognition as a legal practitioner?’ I think not.

There are instances in today’s practice were the heat is so unbearable that a judge might order lawyers appearing before him to take off the wig and gown to allow free passage of fresh air, there are also instances were a judge would sit in chambers without full adornment of the wig and gown, can it rightly be said that lawyers in this situation would perform badly because of the lack of the wig and gown?

To my mind, we can sandwich the use of the wig and gown to fit both schools of thought, by restricting or limiting the wig and gown to call to bar ceremony, and appearance before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, that way those who derive satisfaction and inspiration from the wig and gown, can always get it at the apex court, and those coming into the profession can also have a feeling of adorning the wig and gown.

Yunus Usman Ustaz (SAN) is of the opinion, that if the wig and gown will be done away with, there should still be a prescribed dress code to avoid lawyers dressing in their various traditional attires to court; to steer away from the day lawyers would come to court and see a ‘masquerade’ seated at the bar waiting for his case to be called.

On the issue of how to differentiate a Senior Advocate of Nigeria from other legal practitioners, this is already handled adequately by the sitting arrangements in court, with the front row seats reserved for the silk.

Change is not an enemy, if the use of the wig and gown is outdated and adds no real value to the conduct and performance of a lawyer, then there is really no use for us to keep wearing it because our colonial masters told us to.

Godspeed!

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