Lawyers who delay cases earn less

As the chairman of the Unity Bar, what are the areas you have enhanced capacity of lawyers especially, young ones in your branch?Under our administration we have done a number of training to strengthen the capacity of lawyers and increase their knowledge and skills in the field of the legal profession. Of course we have […]

As the chairman of the Unity Bar, what are the areas you have enhanced capacity of lawyers especially, young ones in your branch?
Under our administration we have done a number of training to strengthen the capacity of lawyers and increase their knowledge and skills in the field of the legal profession. Of course we have done training for some of our lawyers on legislative process; on how bills are initiated until they are passed by the National Assembly. We have done training on corruption in conjunction with the embassy of the USA in Abuja here. We have trained our lawyers in human rights violations. And a couple of times we have invited speakers to speak to us on issues during our meetings. Presently we are assembling a team of 150 lawyers in collaboration with a consultant of the British Department for International Development (DFID) on how to present cases in court and represent indigent clients on pro bono basis.

During this training we provide transportation for our young lawyers. We draw the bulk of the participants from our young lawyers because we see it more as a training ground. We have also sent some  young lawyers to attend the Young Lawyers’ Forum where they have different sections for capacity building. We have also worked in collaboration with Law Quest in training and capacity building of lawyers. We have done 10 sections for different categories of our  lawyers.
Another of these trainings is coming up at Obudu Cattle Ranch and we intend to send some  of our lawyers there. We also intend to collaborate with several agencies to train lawyers on the pro bono cases for indigent inmates. I have also received a proposal from the branch of  Young Lawyers Forum for training on professional ethics and transparency and accountability in dealing with client funds. So we want to continue with some of these trainings to ensure that the capacity of our young lawyers is improved upon.
The NBA conference in Calabar deliberated on the stamp and seal issue in the legal profession, could you throw more light on that?
The stamp and seal issue is still in the front burner in the activities of the NBA because of the cases of touting and quackery that we have. I spoke with the executive director of the NBA and they are working with the Liman committee on stamp and seal. And he has assured that the issue is a reality. I think we need to do stamp and seal. We have done data verification exercise for lawyers and that is why you have lawyers’ names in the NBA website. But I think there was a fundamental omission, being that the data base took into consideration just the names and certificates of lawyers. I think we must have a data base that will include the biometrics of lawyers; it then becomes impossible to impersonate a lawyer or practice law without being a lawyer. That is the area we need to improve upon by the committee that is still working.

The delay in handling corruption cases has been blamed on judges while others blame lawyers. What is your take on this?
Corruption is as old as mankind. So we continue to discuss corruption in Nigeria today without any positive step to curtail it. I think the most serious issue in Nigeria is impunity. If people do things knowing that nothing will happen, it gives birth to misappropriation, embezzlement etc.

On the delay of cases, several mechanisms and interventions are being put in place to improve this. There is the training for lawyers to speed up criminal trials which was done in conjunction with Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA). And areas of intervention were explored. As the programmes continue the process of civil and criminal trials will be accelerated. As to who is responsible for delays in trial, I wouldn’t say it is the lawyers or the judges. Lawyers who are delaying cases are doing it for one reason or the other.
I think we should grow beyond sentiments and be professionally conscious that the more you delay cases the less money you get. Because if you do one case for 10 years how much will you be paid, and if you do same case for two months and get the same professional fees, is it not more expedient that you facilitate the process of doing your case. I think at times lawyers get personal in cases especially, when they know they have a bad case they just want to delay it to satisfy their client that they are doing something which I think is not professionally right.  If you have a case, do the best you can and let judgment be given.
On the bench, some judges do not sit in some areas which lead to delay of cases, but in the FCT, we have worked together with the judiciary, our courts sit promptly and I think they have done very well.

There are increasing cases of professional misconduct against lawyers with some of them being arraigned. What is the branch doing about this?
Yes. We receive a lot of petitions against lawyers on one issue or the other. These issues bother on the professional conducts of some of the lawyers, which I think are unbecoming. But, some of these petitions are also frivolous.  However, the NBA disciplinary committee will continue to look at these complaints and mete out appropriate sanctions where necessary.
What about petitions against judges?
We have a situation where, because of the delays in our judicial process, aggrieved litigants prefer to petition judges, making all manner of allegations than go to the appeal court over cases they are dissatisfied with. The National Judicial Council (NJC) ought to look at some of these petitions and do the right thing.
What is the position of the Bar on the committee inaugurated by the federal government for the proposed national conference?
National dialogue committee is an initiative of the federal government. The NBA does not just jump into making public speeches or taking position where we do not have all the facts. It is a national issue and the President of the NBA will take a position on this after consulting with the Bar and the branch leaders.