PROFESSIONAL ETHICS OVERVIEW

HISTORY OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION AND REGULATIONS

• Before the colonial rule, disputes in the various local communities were settled by means of traditional or religious methods.
• The Supreme Court Ordinance of 1863 established the Supreme Court of Her Majesty’s Settlement of Lagos.
• The shortage of legal personnel made the application of the Ordinance and the running of the courts almost impossible.
• The urgent need for qualified legal practitioners necessitated the promulgation of the Supreme Court Ordinance 1876.

The history of the development of the Legal profession is thus divided into 3 stages as follows:

1876-1914

• First stated the qualifications of a legal practitioner in Nigeria and fused the legal profession in the colony by providing that every barrister would practice as a solicitor and vice versa.
• In this stage, those entitled to practice were:
  1. Professionally Qualified lawyers who studied abroad and were automatically enrolled to practice in Nigeria as Barristers and Solicitors.- 71 of the Ordinance
  2. Lawyers articled for not less than five years in the firm of professionally qualified lawyers and had passed such examinations conducted by persons appointed by the Chief Justice. 73 of the Ordinance
  3. Local Attorneys who were fit and proper Nigerians with basic academic qualifications and passed examinations set by the CJN and granted license to practice FOR 6 MONTHS which was renewable.

1914- 1962.

• The Supreme Court ordinance of 1943 repealed the 1876 ordinance and set new qualification criteria for legal practitioners in Nigeria.
• Those entitled to practice were only foreign trained legal practitioners.

THE DEFICIENCIES OF ENGLISH TRAINED LAWYERS PRACTICING IN NIGERIA

1. To be qualified for enrolment in Nigeria as a LP, a person needed only to qualify abroad either as a Barrister or a Solicitor. But upon enrolment he practiced as both barrister and solicitor.
2. Academic qualification for call to the English bar and for admission as a solicitor in England was merely West African School Certificate. Many of the lawyers who practiced in Nigeria at that time were not graduates.
3. English trained lawyers studied both the English legal and constitutional systems. There was no opportunity for them to study anything relating to customary laws of communities or relevant land laws.
4. The system of govt. he studied in England and practiced was in was unitary system of govt. while Nigeria was and is still practicing federal system of govt.

1962- DATE

• In 1959, the FG set up the Unsworth committee to remedy the deficiencies set out above.
• The recommendations of the committee lead to the promulgation of the Legal Education Act and the Legal Practitioners Act in 1962.
• In pursuance of these statutes the Nigerian Law School was established in late 1962 by the Council of Legal Education, to provide vocational training to aspirants to the legal profession in Nigeria.
• A person can no longer become a legal practitioner in Nigeria unless he first acquired a law degree from a recognized university in Nigeria or overseas before attending the Nigerian Law School physically.
• A law graduate from any foreign university has to attend a mandatory three months Bar Part One course before he may qualify to attend the one year Bar Two course of the Nigerian Law school.

THOSE ENTITLED TO PRACTICE

• There are three channels of qualification to practice in Nigeria:
        1.Entitlement to Practice Generally
  2. Entitlement to practice for the purpose of a particular office
  3. Entitlement to practice for purposes of a particular proceeding
• section 7 LPA

Entitlement to practice generally:

• Two categories of legal practitioners entitled to practice generally.

They are:

1. Those that have been called to the Bar after presenting their qualifying certificate and have been enrolled in the Supreme Court: must have attended the Law school or exempted from attending the law school as the case may be. They are subsequently issued with the qualifying certificate by the Council of legal education – 5 Legal Education Act.

2. Those who are enrolled by virtue of the regulation made by the A.G Fed.

Conditions to Qualify for Call to Bar
            A person shall be entitled to be called to the Bar whether he is a citizen or non-citizen of Nigeria if he fulfils the following conditions:

1. If he produces a qualifying certificate to the body of benchers.
2. He satisfies the Benchers that he is of good character
3. He pays the call fee as may be prescribed by the Benchers
4. He also kept the three dinning terms as stipulated by the Benchers. Section 5 of the Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Act which amended S. 4(1) of LPA.

Conditions for Enrolment at the Supreme Court

1. That a person has been called to the Bar by the Benchers; and
2. He produces the Certificate of his call to the Bar to the Registrar of the Supreme Court. s7 (1) of the LPA

Exemption from Attendance of the Nigerian Law School

1. Partial exemption

• Graduate of Law from Common Law jurisdiction teaching Law in Nigerian universities for a period of 5 years or 10 years if he studied in a non-common law jurisdiction and above are exempted from the Bar Part I programme of the Nigerian Law School.
• 2(A) & (B) OF THE LEGAL EDUCATION (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1976.

1. Total exemption

Conditions for total exemption are:

• The person must be a Nigerian citizen.
• He qualified to be admitted to the Nigerian Law School
• His qualifying subjects for admission into the Nigerian Law School include all core subjects prescribed by the Council.
• At the time he was qualified to attend the Law school or so soon thereafter, he lost the opportunity for reasons beyond his control.
• At the time of the application for exemption he satisfies the Council that he has acquired knowledge and experience over a period of at least 5yrs, fitting him for enrolment and that it will be unreasonable, having regard to all circumstances to require him to go through the Law School.

Entitlement to Practice for Purposes of a Particular Office
There are two categories of persons who may be entitled to practice for the purposes of their office. The first are legal practitioners employed by the government as legal officers. The second are person who are not necessarily legal practitioners but who are occupying some offices and who are allowed to represent such offices in legal matters including judicial proceedings.

• Any person who exercises the functions of the A.G. Fed or of a State, the Solicitor-General of the Fed or of a State and the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Fed or of a state shall be entitled to practice for the purposes of that office- S.2(3)(a) LPA
• Also entitled to practice for the purpose of their office are persons occupying such offices in the civil services of the Fed or of a state which the AG of the Fed or of a state may by order specify.- S. 2(3)(b) LPA
• Some offices in the Federal or State Public Service are occupied strictly by legal practitioners who are employed as legal officers. Such legal officers are entitled to practice by virtue of the order so made by the relevant A.G.
• Once such persons leave office, they automatically cease to be entitled to practise for the purposes of such office.

Entitlement to Practice for the Purposes of a Particular Proceeding
The Chief Justice of Nigeria may by warrant permit a person to come into Nigeria and represent a litigant in a specified proceeding in court. A person may only be eligible for the grant of such warrant when the following conditions are met:

1. The applicant or the person on whose behalf the application is made must be entitled to practice as an advocate in the country in which he practices.
2. Such country where the applicant is entitled to practice as an advocate must have a legal system similar to that of Nigeria; and
3. The applicant pays a fee not exceeding fifty naira to the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

-S. 2(2) LPA; Awolowo v. Minister of Internal Affairs.