Milk the cow, feed the cow

“They want to milk the cow, but they do not want to feed the cow.” Last King of Scotland. The legal profession as practiced in Nigeria encourages the one-man law firm as opposed to partnership that institutionalises the affairs and operations of a law firm. In a one -man law firm, the principal is king, […]

“They want to milk the cow, but they do not want to feed the cow.” Last King of Scotland.

The legal profession as practiced in Nigeria encourages the one-man law firm as opposed to partnership that institutionalises the affairs and operations of a law firm. In a one -man law firm, the principal is king, he can hire and fire at will; he can pay peanuts or decide not to pay salaries and nothing would happen. In this kind of situation, phrases like ‘if you go, I will replace you in a jiffy’ keep playing out. The principal partner determines the terms of reference without contract of service with the employee.

Overtime, this kind of practice has made it difficult for the survival of a young wig in the profession, thereby hindering growth. Some principal partners have taken advantage of this loophole in the framework of the profession, by neglecting the basic welfare needs of an employee, yet demand result 8am – 5pm, Monday to Friday. Irrespective of the state or condition of an employee, he/she must deliver on the job; nobody wants to know if the young wig has eaten, or is psychologically fit to perform optimally, all that is expected is result.

This begs the question, if the legal profession started this way, or things changed along the way. We sometimes hear of how law firms of the heydays sponsor lawyers overseas for training and conferences, we hear of law firms buying cars for their juniors. In the present day Nigeria, only few law firms make such arrangement for their employees, some firms sponsor their juniors to conferences, pay staff conference fees, transportation, accommodation, feeding, and logistics, while the majority of the law firms turn a blind eye to these needs, some would try and give the young lawyer N20,000 to cater for his/her needs in a five-day conference.

It is sad that a young lawyer hardly has time to mingle with the society because of the enormity of the job, and with nothing to show for it. Somebody said, “If you don’t have time, at least have money”, but in the Nigerian lawyer’s case, we neither have time nor money, and if the trend continues, then the future looks bleak.

One would expect that with the enormity of work done in a Senior Advocate of Nigeria’s law office, a lawyer who gets employed in such firm ought not to be paid anything less than N50,000 (fifty thousand naira), sadly we still have Senior Advocates that give juniors in their offices a monthly pay of N30,000 (thirty thousand naira) with no added allowance of the sort in the legal profession.

With the beehive of activities that goes on in the office of a SAN, and the prestige fellow colleagues pay to the law office of a SAN, the Senior Advocate ordinarily ought to do better than their peers in payment of wages and welfare of employees.

Intellectual property is the pride and beacon of the profession but poorly encouraged in the Nigerian legal system – the true value of knowledge is performance. It is advisable that if you milk a cow, you feed the cow, or else expect a malnourished cow with little fat or muscle tissue. Likewise in the legal profession, a lawyer who is constantly engaged in reading, research, drafting etc and does not get commensurate reward, gradually the enthusiasm for the job begins to dwindle, frustration begins to creep in, and the lawyer begins to look shabby and unkempt.

The legal profession is viewed with high esteem by the Nigerian society, though this respect is misplaced, because many respect the lawyer for the knowledge he acquires, but laugh at the state of penury of the legal practitioner.  It is sad that after many years of study at the university, many hours at the law office, sometimes weekends inclusive, a young lawyer has nothing to show for it. After five years post call, we still find lawyers in parents’ houses, with no ability to be financially independent.

Which begs the question, are the labours of young lawyers exploited by law firms in the legal industry?

 

 

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