The legal community has been uneasily abuzz over the released “terms and conditions” for the application to wear Silk and be addressed as Learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria from 2023/2024 legal year going forward.
This appellation SAN comes with accompanying privileges not limited to wearing silk while others wear cotton, sitting in the Inner Bar but also inclusive of charging SAN fees.
Since Nigerian Law School was established, the curriculum has not changed neither has the ancient rite of Call to Bar changed.
So what makes a lawyer from the same Call Set deserving to wear silk while his more academic brilliant Call Mate is stock in cotton?
The Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) is a prestigious rank conferred annually by the Legal Practitioner Privileges Committee (LPPC) on legal practitioners who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession as acceptable to the LPPC. Section 5 of the Act, LPPC sets the condition to be met. Some of these conditions which are modified every year except the age at the Bar of the Applicant.
This year’s call for Application, has been frowned at because of 2.2 of the Notice which reads, “An applicant must pay a non-refundable processing fee of One Million Naira (N1,000. 000.00) only to any of the following accounts held in the name of the “Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (SAN)”:
A good number of lawyers have kicked against this Application Fee, claiming that the fee monetizes the process and will make qualified lawyers not eligible to apply. Others still argue that, the vetting processes and other administrative issues associated with the application, is now online and the cost should be reduced.
Laudable and objective as these observations are, lawyers are quick to forget that, the award of the Rank, is a Privilege and not a right.
The LPPC merely set the entry standard that will make it consider your application as fit and proper to merit their attention.
Some lawyers on the other hand, have argued that, any lawyer in serious practice 10 years prior to his application, with serious jealous dedication to advocacy and not distracted into being jackal in all fields of law, can with ease, meet these requirements and have clientele base that can easily bear the weight of the Application fee.
They further contend that over the years, the quality of those who wear the Silk has dwindled. Most of them after wearing the Silk, stops advocating or adding to the development of the law. After their investiture, they become experts in ambulance chasing politicians, Attorney General’s briefs and lobby to become fixers for multinational companies exploiting Nigeria.
Many lawyers still wearing cotton, easily points out to some SAN who are miraculous SAN.
They claim that these ones, were not known to be in active litigation or are their acclaimed publication in use by colleagues.
A little investigation reveals that, prospective applicants, goes brief buying.
They sort out court clerks, registrars, etc to get them briefs that had been abandoned or that after filing of Notice of Appeal, the litigant has no financial muscle to pull it through.
Another trick is, prospective applicants, trying to beat the quota system considered by LPPC, use a state with low SAN density to apply, only to relocate to Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna and Port Harcourt, starving the state they used of their services and improvement of the quality of litigation in that state.
While we agree that the Application Fee is high and see reasons with those that reason that, SAN charges in most cases outrageous fees that they had never charged before wearing the Silk and therefore, should pay the club eligibility fee, we call on the LPPC, to review downwards, this Application Fee.
We further solicit that other conditions, particular the books required to be in the library of a prospective applicant. This insistence that outdated pre-Lord Lugard British Law Books must be in the library, should be stopped.
Also should be stopped is the demand that hard copies of practice books must be seen. This is the era of technology and e-library should be encouraged and reliance on hard copy minimized. Office inspection too needs to be looked into. Most prospective applicants are put under pressure, to get an office befitting the status of SAN. Many go borrowing, some convert their residential house to office and revert to their one room cubicle after he or she had been decorated as SAN.
Our Lord the CJN we appeal to you, to hear our prayers.
