You can’t know it all

“The worst conversations are had with those who don’t know, yet they believe they know, and so don’t want to know.”   The quest for knowledge is an essential ingredient in the formation of a pristine gentleman of the bar; it is one ingredient that no lawyer can boast of having it all. The beauty […]

“The worst conversations are had with those who don’t know, yet they believe they know, and so don’t want to know.”

 

The quest for knowledge is an essential ingredient in the formation of a pristine gentleman of the bar; it is one ingredient that no lawyer can boast of having it all. The beauty of knowledge is that the more you seek it, the more you discover how little you know, like an ocean, the more you fetch from the it, the deeper you get, yet cannot be exhausted.

Take for example, back in the days when a test was set in Media Law while this writer was a postgraduate student of Investigative Journalism at the Kaduna State University. Ordinarily, the expectation of people around would be that being a lawyer, one ought to do better than others who have no background knowledge of law. Ironically, the aspect of law that surrounds mass communication and journalism e.g Copyright, Patent, Defamation, et al are courses taught as an undergraduate of law, yet in practice, little attention is paid to these areas of law. To cut the long story short, this writer, a lawyer performed below average in a test on media law.

The above scenario teaches one thing, no one can claim a monopoly of knowledge, and being comfortable with the little knowledge one has acquired is tantamount to enjoying a boat at the harbour. The quest of knowledge to a legal practitioner ought not to be restricted or limited to when carrying out research at the library for a law firm, rather, the quest of knowledge to a legal practitioner should be part of his daily routine as he or she lives law.

It is no longer news that this generation has being blessed with technology that makes everything easy and simple as a click of a button, if furthering in a higher institution is financially difficult, then the data that we use for social media and downloads, is sufficient to help one obtain additional skills.

It starts from interest. A legal practitioner must first understand that he knows little, and seek to know more, that is the beginning of the quest for knowledge. One who believes he knows enough would not develop an interest to know more, and when there is no interest there can be no quest for knowledge.

One of the holy books rightly said “My people perish for lack of knowledge”. Some legal practitioners are doing badly in practice because they have failed to seek more knowledge in their area of practice thereby hindering growth. So, if you ask me, I will say no matter the height one has acquired in certificates, one should still develop the interest to know more.

Obtain additional skills, once the interest to learn is developed, the next step is to work towards developing your skill set. Ask yourself the question ‘which area am I weak at, is it advocacy, writing, expressing opinion, or how to create a business? The internet has sufficient materials to develop any area of weakness; all you need do is search Google.

Take for instance, Johnboy is always having problems on how to draft a written address, no matter how hard he tries, he does not satisfy the requirement of his principal. Johnboy if willing to learn, should search the internet on ‘how to draft a good written address’. Several results will pop out. He can study the several samples supplied, compare with his own, and discover the key areas where he is lacking, and make adjustment.

The problem however arises when Johnboy refuses to admit that he does not know, but rather cast blames on others. ‘God forbid that any lawyer should know all the law’, believing or acting as the ‘omnigod of knowledge’ succeeds in blinding one from seeing the relevance of the quest for knowledge.

In sum, legal practitioners specifically, the young ones should seek to acquire more knowledge. We cannot learn it all, but we must learn every day. The law firms can also encourage their employees on capacity building, sponsor trips to seminars, conferences, et al. In the end it will work out for the good of all, including the legal profession.

Godspeed!

Do send your comment(s), observation(s) and recommendation(s) to [email protected] or like us on www.facebook.com/younglaywerscolumn