Guardian

In what appears as a tacit acquiescence with the maxim that justice delayed is justice denied, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, recently charged judges in the country on quick and thorough dispensation of justice.  She also introduced a new policy directive that would see judges, who are not able to deliver a minimum of four judgments in a year, to leave the scene. But GBENGA OYEBODE, a revered Lagos- based business lawyer, in this interview, said the use of technology plays a vital role in quick adjudication of cases in Nigeria. Oyebode, who is the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA SBL), also spoke on the need for continuous legal education, as well as the coming SBL yearly conference in Lagos.

ON the problems of delay in judicial process in Nigeria, Oyebode said delay in the justice system has remained a big issue, which all stakeholders in the justice sector are concerned about.

“ NBA is looking at it. The judiciary as a whole is looking at it and the state governments as well as the Federal Government. It is a topical issue everybody is looking at. People are looking at how to solve the issue of delay. Today, you file an action in court; it could take anything between five to 10 years to take it from the High Court to the Supreme Court. Obviously, it is of special interest to SBL, but also of special interest to all stakeholders in the justice system and so it will form part of our deliberation during our conference”.

Asked to react to the CJN’s directive to judges asking them to deliver four judgments a year or leave the scene, the revered business lawyer said he was not sure that was what the CJN meant.

According to him, one of the key issues in checking delays in our justice delivery system is the use of technology.

He said: “ Technology is the key. I think we should make use of technology. Today, our judges still record court proceedings in long-hands. Obviously, that takes time. As quickly as we can, we should be able to get court reporters, that can aid judges in taking of witnesses’ statements in court proceedings, it will speed up deliberations in court. These kind of things will help”.

On the recent CBN guidelines directing all law firms to register with the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML), Oyebode, said “what is necessary is the position taken by the NBA to challenge the directive.”

“ I had the privilege to be in the NEC meeting where a position was taken that NBA should brief Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN).

So already, there is litigation on the matter.  What we have to understand is that anti-laundering has become a big issue. This is not about NBA; it is a case of how we can deal with anti-laundering in such a way that it does not breach the confidence and trust of clients. This is the biggest issue that the NBA has problem with. We are not saying that we should be allowed to practise our profession in an unrestricted manner.  What we are saying is that one of the tenets of the legal profession is confidentiality of clients’ information.  And we must work around a system where the confidentiality of the clients is protected. “Rather unfortunately, when the legislation went through the National Assembly, there was no debate, both by the NBA and other stakeholders. But now that it is part of the law, we are saying that there is a part of the law that breaches an age-long tradition of the legal profession with respect to the confidentiality of clients. That is the issue we are trying to bring up in the whole matter”

Asked to comment on the ebbing relationship between the Bar and the Bench, Oyebode was of the opinion that the relationship between the Bench and the Bar has not ebbed because the two need each other.

“You need to understand that the Bench is part and parcel of the legal profession. Before you become a judge, you must be called to the Nigerian Bar. So, there is no distinction, there is no friction. I think, we all stand for the same issue, which is justice, saner and equitable approach to achieving the same objectives. I do not subscribe to the view that there is any friction between the Bench and the Bar”.

On the alleged falling standard of the legal profession, He said the Council of Legal Education was tackling the issue with the setting of curriculum for the Nigerian Law School.

According to him, there has been a lot of concern as whether people are maintaining the standard but that is not isolated to the legal profession, it cuts across board. Issues of the criteria of admission of students and the ability of the proprietors to concentrate on issues that are important should be addressed.

“ We must continually focus on the whole process of the faculty of law in the universities on how they should take their students.

“We must look at the students and see if the present curriculum in the Law Schools has met with the challenges. A situation where we still have people going to school for almost two years, especially foreign graduates to be admitted to Nigerian legal profession, a situation where there are a lot of issues to the admission to the Bar. It must be amended to make it things easy. There are jurisdictions, where Nigerian lawyers are admitted to the Bar just by attending the Law School for three months. I think we have to look at this because there is nothing special about Nigeria, about the law we practice, and it is the same British common law. Even around us, like in Ghana, the country allows for easier access for Nigerian lawyers and the fact that Nigerian lawyers can get admission, for instance in the state of New York, just on the basis that you are eligible to practice in Nigeria. This is the kind of things we should constantly look at. It is not about making life difficult, it is about making life easier, it is about making sure that the rules that have been set are acceptable and up to global standard. We must ensure that making things difficult does not enhance the quality of lawyers.

On the coming seventh NBA SBL conference, Oyebode said the focus of the conference scheduled for June 17, with the theme: “The legal profession in an Emerging Market” is to allow lawyers interact on the growth of the legal profession, especially in a market that is very similar like ours.

“The keynote speaker for this year’s conference is one prominent Indian lawyer and the focus is to tap from the Indian market.

India and Nigeria are very similar in terms of growth and that is why we have decided that we would bring a representation of the Indian legal profession to be a keynote speaker.

We also have the International Director of the Law Society of England, to speak on the same theme. The idea is to see how the English Common Law jurisdiction generally affects the growth of the legal profession.

On ways to check the decline in law practice in Nigeria, Oyebode said, the key is in Continuing Legal Education. When people graduate from the Law School, we have to train them constantly because the law is also constantly in motion. There are changes in law, particularly in business laws. The fact that some of the counterparts we deal with come from other jurisdictions, make it expedient for us not just in law but also in the other key issues that our counterparts are looking at.

So the NBA SBL has continued to look at the issue of training, continuous legal education international and global best practices in our sector. Nigeria must not be left out in international law, we must participate in the global scene that we see around, especially in common law jurisdiction whether in Australia, South Africa, Canada, USA, United Kingdom. There are significant steps that we must take in the market, some of these we have not followed.

On the Impact of the conference on legal practice in Nigeria, the revered lawyer said one of the key factors when the NBA SBL was set up, was the issue of continued legal education. “Our view about legal practice is that so long as in this country we are able to increase the knowledge of our lawyers, I do not subscribe to the idea that the quality of legal education has continuously gone down. A lot of issues we have about education, continuous legal education only borders on ethical issues. The NBA under the leadership of Okey Wali (SAN) has dealt with that.  The NBA has taken up the ethical and disciplinary roles, which will bring a change in the management of the association. You will see that the CJN has also taken up the issue of corruption and discipline in the judiciary at the forefront. I think there is a collision of efforts to make sure that the legal profession and the issues that affect all of us are well taken care of. For us, our biggest issue is continuous legal education and all our committees are constantly having sections, where they train people, where they try to bring up the practice to global standard and that for me would ensure that the standard continues to improve.