We at The Nigerian Lawyer watched in awe at the seemingly endless parade of tributes and accolades. We were in awe that such a paragon had lived amongst us, but we were even more in awe that there, in the midst of the praise singers, were some who had found him a national treasure of such significance that they had to imprison, sorry, hide him away for safety.

When the whole world and their cousins gathered at his residence, those of us who could only get close enough through the screen had to wonder, is this what Gani would have wanted? Is this how we would have wanted to go out? We do not think so. Gani was a lot of things but he was no hypocrite. He stood for what he believed in and would not keep quiet even when it was in his best interests to do so. He was radical and unapologetically so.

So now he is gone and his death is indeed a loss to Nigeria. Nevertheless, at 71(his age when he died), he would have been retiring from activism eventually. And there would have been no one to take over from him. After decades of new entrees to the numerous Law faculties across the country, it is more than a little baffling that there are not more like him considering that over the years, there have been several self-styled ‘Ganis’ posturing and postulating every chance they got. How come then, that we have not got more conscience driven lawyers who are ready to go any lengths to preserve law and order, fight injustice and uphold the cause of the down trodden? When the SSS arrested several journalists, clearly infringing on their freedom of speech and other constitutional rights, the wigs folded their arms waiting for Gani to ‘say something’. Well, Gani is gone, and to the best of our knowledge, he will not be saying much for now. Unfortunately, it does not look as though any of those who are yet to go would be saying anything as well.

If the leader of a country is the image of that country, then without a doubt, Nigeria is ill. Sadly, we do not have the option of medical treatment in another jurisdiction; the treatment of Nigeria must start with Nigerians and we daresay, with the legal profession. Until there are more people like Gani, willing to sacrifice their personal freedom so that this nation will achieve positive change, growth and development, we will continue stumbling around, a lame giant. As the custodians of the Rule of Law and servants in the Temple of Justice, it stands to reason that that clamour for change must begin with our noble profession.

Death of a Conscience originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on September 20, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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That was the hue and cry at the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association. It was a proposition that was slipped in at every opportunity. To understand the depth and intensity of this cry and the resulting reaction, an appreciation of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is necessary.

The Conferment of the rank of SAN sprung up as an equivalent to the Queens Counsel of England. The first three lawyers to be conferred with the rank were Chief Fredrick Rotimi Alade Williams, Bekinbo Graham-Douglas, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in 1975, which was when the rank was established.

The rank is conferred by the Privileges Committee and is awarded to lawyers who are 10 years or more at the bar. However, conferment is not automatic and since it is a privilege, the rank is not one that is of right; in other words, no one has the right to be conferred with the rank of SAN. Certain conditions need to be met, such as the number of cases handled and the number of Court of Appeal and Supreme Court appearances, to mention just a few and even at that, conferment is totally at the discretion of the Privileges Committee.

Once a lawyer has been conferred with the rank of SAN, he/she becomes a silk wearing member of the Bar. This comes with quite a number of privileges some of which are the right to be heard out of turn at Court and the best seats in Court. One other indirect privilege the holder of the rank enjoys is the best and more lucrative cases are usually for the picking.

So one might ask, why would lawyers wish to eradicate such an honourable icon of accomplishment? There may be several reasons for the abolition of the rank of SAN, but the loudest was the method of conferment. Since the conferment is solely at the discretion of the Privileges Committee, there is obviously little transparency about it all. The general opinion seemed to be that less deserving lawyers were being so honoured while earnest, hard working and deserving lawyers were being overlooked, despite countless applications. There were murmurs and words such as ‘politicizing‘ and ‘cartels‘ were bandied about. The call for the abolishment of the rank became so heated that the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at the recently concluded Annual General Conference (AGF) had to institute a technical committee to investigate the call and report to the National Executive Council (NEC), the ultimate decision making organ of the NBA.

What would such a move, should the NEC act on it, mean for legal tradition? Apart from the obvious halt of a thirty-plus-year tradition, the younger lawyers would be the most affected. It would mean for some, the draining of a legal wellspring of inspiration. There are some law students who from their first year at university, dedicated their toils and candlelit vigil over tomes to the eventual donning of silk. What would the abolition of the rank mean to their hopes and dreams? What becomes the determinant of excellence in the legal profession? Not to say that the rank of SAN right now is the sole determinant of excellence in the profession, but there is the presumption of excellence which comes with the silk robe. Is abolition really the answer or should we focus more on reformation?

In the interest of public opinion, please share yours by voting using the poll at the top of the right sidebar.

No More Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on September 2, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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The Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference, ‘Lagos 2009’ ended tody. It was a week-long programme which was held at the Ocean view Expo Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos from the 16th to the 21st of August 2009.

The theme of the conference was ‘Underdeveloped Nations, Failed Economies and the Future of the Legal Profession’. The conference was declared open by the Vice President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, ably represented by the Hon. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN.
The Conference resolved as follows:

1. That in order to address the gloomy state and practice of Democracy in Nigeria, the Nigerian Bar Association recommits itself to challenging Public Officers who undermine public good for personal interest as well as the culture of impunity and non accountability so prevalent in the polity.
2. That the efforts of the Federal Government in resolving the Niger Delta crises is commendable, NBA however urges all stakeholders to work towards addressing the inequities that led to the crisis.
3. That the quick intervention of the security agencies in containing the Boko Haram crises is applauded, but strongly deprecates the extra judicial killings of the leaders of the sect and indeed all forms of extra judicial killings in the country.
4. That credible, free, and fair elections are the sine-quo-non to democracy and can only be achieved in Nigeria where the electoral processes are transparent and the stakeholders see elections as the only legitimate means to obtaining the mandate of the people to govern. That the report of the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee is key to any meaningful electoral reform in the country and urges the National Assembly to as a matter of national imperative bring about legislation to implement the report to its fullest.
5. That all registered political parties in Nigeria must allow for internal democracy within their parties so that qualitative and acceptable candidates could emerge from the process, as the absence of such a process is antithetical to the very notion of democracy.
6. That the NBA shall be actively involved in entrenching a credible electoral process including but not limited to voter education.
7. That NBA commends the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and indeed its Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi for the recent steps taken to restore sanity and confidence in the banking industry and urges the Bank to continue to take whatever steps required in that direction.
8. That the legal framework for investment in the Nigerian economy should be reviewed to make the investment climate more competitive and favourable to the country in line with global best practices.
9. That NBA shall play a pivotal role in the development and entrenchment of cogent principles of corporate governance and encourage all relevant stakeholders and agencies to join hands with it in this direction as the current regime is weak and inadequate.
10. That the intricate relationship between law and development is noted and therefore the Bar rededicates itself to live up to its responsibility as a catalytic agent of change, economic development, and political stability in Nigeria.
11. That to accelerate infrastructural development in the country through private sector participation, the existing legal and regulatory framework for Public/Private Partnerships in Nigeria should be reviewed and strengthened in line with global best practices.
12. That the varied and often conflicting legal regimes and institutional frameworks regulating the telecommunication industry should be streamlined and harmonized for effective regulation of the sector.
13. That there should be an effective legal framework to curb the prevalence of e-fraud in Nigeria, in accordance with global best practices.
14. That lawyers are encouraged to evolve a robust and viable partnership and succession plan in law firms that would lead to the development of mega firms in order to improve the quality and sustainability of legal practice in Nigeria.
15. That to ensure transparency and meritorious considerations, the Bar should be effectively involved in the processes of the appointment of Judges and the conferment of the Rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN).
16. That the relationship between the Bench and the Bar should be improved towards quick dispensation of justice especially through the adoption of Alterative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes and the NBA shall sensitize its members on the use of the Multi-door Courthouse window.
17. That all forms of corruption and insincerity both at the Bar and Bench are stongly condemned.
18. That the criminal justice delivery system, including the prison system, should be overhauled and reformed to ensure quick dispensation of justice, while guaranteeing the fundamental human rights of citizens as enshrined in the constitution.
19. That torture in all its forms is condemned and urges both the government and civil society groups including the NBA to take positive steps to prevent it in Nigeria.
20. That the child is key to the future of any society and therefore his or her rights must be protected. States in Nigeria that are yet to domesticate the Child Rights Act are therefore called upon to do so without further delay.
21. That the negative effects of stealing public funds on the economy is quite enormous and therefore urges members of the Bar to live up to their professional responsibility by not allowing themselves to be used by their clients as agents for money laundering.
22. That the new Lagos State High Court Civil Procedure Rules has made a positive impact on the justice delivery system, but to realise its full potential, there should be continuous training for judges and lawyers; employment of qualified legal practitioners to man the registry and continuous review of the rules to meet with emerging challenges.
23. That the media should continue to live up to its responsibility in exposing corruption without embarking on ‘trial by media’.
24. That in order to enhance the disciplinary procedure for dealing with erring legal practitioners, the Body of Benchers is called upon to employ fulltime prosecutors to handle such matters as they arise.
25. That henceforth, general elections of the NBA shall be held in the month of July by delegates, while the AGC will continue to be held in the month of August.
26. That the NBA expresses its gratitude to the people and government of Lagos State for its warm hospitality in immeasurable support and unparalleled commitments in ensuring the resounding success of this year’s conference. In this regard NBA is proud of its illustrious member, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, the Governor of Lagos State, for bringing honour to the legal profession by his exemplary leadership.

Dated at Lagos this 21st day of August, 2009

Muritala Abdulrasheed, Esq
National Publicity Secretary

Official Communique | Nigerian Bar Association | Annual Genral Conference originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on August 21, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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The Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association is currently in progress in Lagos, Nigeria. The theme for the conference this year is Underdeveloped Nations, Failed Economies and the Future of the Legal Profession. The Nigerian Lawyer sat down to a chat with George Etomi who is the present Chairman of the NBA’s Section on Business Law and a range of subjects were discovered.

Sir, I would like to know how you got interested in Commercial law in the first place.

There was an element of chance or luck, influence and perhaps fate. Generally, I took an interest in commercial law subjects at the undergraduate level; my favourite subjects were Company Law, Law of Contracts, Equity and Trust and Insurance Law.

Then I went for a Masters’ degree at the London School of Economics where we were given six weeks to choose our areas of interest from several courses. I initially chose Company Law, Insurance, Civil Litigation and a fourth subject. We were allowed six weeks – an experimental period and we submitted the four subjects at the end of that period. I attended classes in all the four subjects but included International Economic Law and the Law of Business Taxation. At the end of the experimental period, I narrowed down my choice to Company Law, Insurance Law, International Economic Law and Law of Business Taxation; all squarely commercial law subjects.

My primary interest was to teach and I got appointed to the Faculty of Law of the University of Lagos but barely stayed there before I met Udoma (now Senator and one of my closest friends) who been teaching there for about three months before I began. He basically discouraged me from teaching and gave me the address of Chris Ogunbanjo and Co. I went there and met Chief Ogunbanjo and after the necessary interviews, I started working there.

Chris Ogunbanjo at the time, without a shadow of doubt, had the most vibrant Commercial Law practice in Nigeria. The opportunity to work directly with such a great man largely influenced my career because at Chris Ogunbanjo & Co we were exposed to the best and most esoteric areas, of Commercial Law practice. So when I left to found George Etomi & Partners (GE&P) in 1984, there was little surprise that I got stuck with Commercial law.

When you started, it was not a very popular area of practice; how was your journey? Did you face a lot of difficulties in the way?

When I started practice in 1984, Nigeria was going through a recession [these recessions have a cycle, they come and go]. At that time I did question the wisdom of leaving a secure employment to go into the field. It was not easy but first, but I had a determination not to fall below the standard I had been used to. Therefore locating my office in Ikoyi as I did was part of that determination. The rent did not come cheap; I first started by sharing a building with a dental office. I did a lot of running around because I quickly discovered that I had converted from being paid to actually paying other people. I had to go lobby for work, see it done to the highest professional standard, and get paid for it. In addition I had to administer the office. So the challenges were enormous; even NEPA did not make it easy because of the poor power situation I had to get a generator which I had not originally budgeted for. But I learnt to be resilient and formed the singular determination not to give up

It is obvious to see from your Parkview address that the hard work and determination paid off in the long run. But how long did it take to see the dividends of your labour?

It is difficult in practice to measure dividends; the determination is to stay in business. Commercial law practice is tied to the fortunes of the economy; when it booms, business booms. When there is a recession, it affects us the same way. One thing I learnt quickly in practice is that law is life and it encompasses every area of human endeavour so we find that even in difficult times e.g. recession, there is plenty of room for Insolvency practice. So it is important for Lawyers to keep reinventing themselves to stay in business. One way to benchmark how well we have done is that what started as a solo practice now has three branches including Port Harcourt and Abuja with nearly 30 lawyers spread across the practice. Of course we will continue to maintain our resolve to be relevant and to continue to adapt to the emerging global situation in relation to legal practice.

I asked the last question because most lawyers fresh out of law school dream of either earning a 5-figure salary or of making it big overnight. From your own personal experience, is this a right approach?

Wrong. Very wrong. It does not work that way. I have always advocated that we must begin to look at law practice as a business; which is anything you use to earn your living. Things do not just happen because you are a lawyer. This was how we thought in the early days; that being a lawyer made things happen with little or no effort. A lawyer who wants to make it or who wants to open his own law firm must get the rudiments of business, which you don’t get in law school. I attended the Lagos Business School executive course and it has proved very helpful in shaping my law practice.

Globalization is a buzzword and the incidents that affected law practice in our times, are different from what happens now. It presents new threats and opportunities. Some respond to these threats by becoming bigger and some are specializing. But whatever path you choose, there is no substitute for hard work. You can stay there and wish yourself anything you wish but it’s not going to happen because you wished it, but because you stayed focused and determined. There were periods when I practically had to sleep out of my briefcase. Communication is better now but then you had to travel with minimum information so it was virtually impossible to plan trips and you ended up spending so much time travelling.

My advice to young lawyers is this: Young Lawyers pay your dues. It will not just happen because you wish it.

You are the current chairperson of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on Business Law – you were more or less the propeller; what made you so passionate about this Section?

I have an innate passion for continuous professional development; maybe it is rooted in my deep interest in teaching but I learnt at a very early age from my dad that knowledge is power and that those who continuously improve on their knowledge base are more likely to make advancement in life. If you read as I do the biographies of very successful men, one thing that is common to them is their unquenchable thirst to know.

Secondly I love sharing knowledge. So when I got involved in the Bar activities and was made chairman of the Dinner Committee of the Lagos Bar about 10 years ago, I saw that with the right sort of leadership at the bar, you could get lawyers to be more involved in determining their destiny. One way to achieve this is to continuously update themselves about developments in the profession. My exposure to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at that time also opened my eyes to the failure of the NBA at that time, to give complete cover to all facets of its members. For example those of us in the Corporate Law world were treated like outsiders to the NBA and I felt the NBA was not getting the complete benefit of its members. Most of this was due to the origin of the NBA which was an activist group fighting for independence. But times have changed now and it simply needed to broaden its umbrella to accommodate non-litigation lawyers.

The NBA is an organization that is larger than life; it cuts across all the other professions. We thought the way it could show its full face was to harness the entire spectrum of lawyers because it was slowly losing this batch of non-litigation practitioners.

The need for change started when OCJ Okocha, SAN was President of the NBA and he was favourably disposed to the idea. The NBA constitution was consequently amended to allow for the creation of Sections. So he basically set the machinery in motion and Wole Olanikpekun, SAN embraced the idea too and set up another committee which recommended for the creation of the Section on Business Law (SBL) and the Section on Legal Practice (SLP) in line with what obtains in the International Bar Association (IBA). When this was done, Yusuf Ali SAN became the first Chairman of the SLP while I was Chairman of the SBL.

I attended the 4^th Business Law Conference and one thing which struck me was the enormous international presence. How was that possible? Bearing in mind that the international community is quite wary when it comes to anything coming out of Nigeria.

We had our maiden conference in 2006, after the formal inauguration of the SBL. It was a 2-day all plenary affair but you could have sliced through the hunger for knowledge. That first conference was what reinforced my desire to press for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) because the conference was attended by Justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and High Court. Industry was fully represented as well as Policy makers and Regulators. It could be seen that Nigerians clearly are a hard working people. We keep receiving negative press worldwide and this is partly because we do not hype what is good that can come out of here. So I decided that even if it was in my sphere, I could do that with our Business Law Conferences.

The presence of increasing numbers of foreign participants is testimony that we are doing something right. To date we have had four such conferences. In fact, in 2007 the Keynote Speech was delivered by Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka. In 2008 it was delivered by Nana Akufo Addo, former Attorney General of Ghana, who lost narrowly at the last presidential election in that country. And this year, 2009, the Keynote speech was delivered by Mr. Fernando Pombo, immediate past president of the IBA.

The Law Society of England and Wales, the American Bar Association and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and very lately, Law Asia have become very interested in collaborating with the NBA.

It is therefore not surprising that each year tends to be better than the preceding one. I must give credit to the chairpersons and members of the SBL committees through whom most of our activities are done. They develop the subject matters, topics, invite the speakers and generally take care of all the loose ends. So when international delegates come and see how well organised and truly international our standards are I always remember these colleagues who go out of their way to ensure that the NBA puts its best foot forward.

The SBL has also benefited from a very vibrant council and the hardest working committees and I single out Mrs Mfon Usoro who was chairperson of the 2009 conference, which everyone acknowledged is the best so far.

What difference has IT in general and the internet in particular made in your practice?

The internet has totally changed the landscape of legal practice and I recall when Udoma and I were at Chris Ogunbanjo and co., we tried to introduce the use of word processors at the time to our practice but we achieved little success with it. Then, everyone had to beg typists to help with typing long agreements often in triplicates and quadruplicates etc and any slight mistake meant you had to start all over. You appeared very busy in the office but proof reading took a good chunk of our time. So when I started GE&P, I was determined that every lawyer was going to be responsible for the work they did so we train every lawyer to become adept at using the computer and to be generally IT savvy. For me personally, with my blackberry, I have my office in my palm and can work anywhere. In fact, I tend to get a lot more work done when I am travelling because of my blackberry – as long as there is network along the road.

There is no doubt that IT has changed the landscape completely and my advice to young lawyers is that to compete, they must become IT knowledgeable. Even the Parent body the NBA can cope with its ever increasing number of practice lawyers (over 50,000 by the last count) through the use of IT. So IT is indispensable for modern law practice.

I am aware that your firm George Etomi and Partners are actively involved in the Telecom Industry. How far has that industry come? Are we at par with the rest of the world or do we still have a long way to go?

The Telecoms Act was a product of a private member’s bill; Hon. Nduka Irabor, who used to be the chairman of the House committee on Telecommunication and whose passion for creating an enabling legal and regulatory framework for that industry is most commendable, actually worked with our firm to realise that Bill. We were so impressed by his patriotism that the firm [GE&P] actually worked pro bono to see that that Bill defeated the Executive Bill, which sought to leave too much power in the hand of the Minister. Paul Usoro and co worked with the Senate Committee and at some point, we harmonised the positions of the House and the Senate to produce what even the most critical of Industry watchers today agree is the best thing to happen to the Telecoms Industry. I believe that for the Telecoms Industry, the focus should be on the Regulator and the Minister should always be in charge of Policy. As you would have noticed, the faceoff between the NCC and the Minister recently about the 3G licenses clearly bears this point. It is a frightening proposition for the Minister to interfere with how the Telecoms Industry works outside of Policy. Today, the Telecoms Sector is the only public sector that is really working because it is the only truly deregulated sector. It is therefore not surprising that it is the one industry that continuously attracts genuine foreign investment into the economy. This is due to the legal and regulatory framework.

You were recently in Kuala Lumpur to deliver a paper at the Law Asia conference. What lessons can the Nigerian Bar learn from their Asian Counterparts?

I do not know about learning, but I know that collaboration between the NBA and other Bar Associations will produce benefits to both parties. I attended the Bar leaders meeting at that conference [Law Asia] and represented the President of the NBA. It was interesting to see the challenges that some countries face and the role the Bar is playing to help them. I was surprised to find out that there are some countries that do not have Bar Associations and some, where the practice of law is not even encouraged and lawyers go through all manner of harsh treatment. Conferences like this [Law Asia] allow for exchange of ideas as to how Bar Associations the world over can support themselves.

Malaysia is a wonder story and one worth emulating. I am glad that the immediate past President of the Malaysian Bar Association honoured our invitation to attend the 4^th Business Law Conference of the NBA and I hope that the NBA would continue to spread its influence to the Far East.

You wear several hats; husband, father, Lawyer, Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section of Business Law, just to mention a few. How do you successfully juggle these?

It’s called juggling. Whatever I do, I try to maintain a balance between the home front and my professional obligation. I thank God for a most supportive wife and family. She is also a Lawyer but we have an unspoken agreement not to take work home so we can focus on each other and the family. And because I also travel a lot, we tend to treasure whatever time we have with each other when I am around.

As boss in the office and managing the SBL, I give a lot of my time and resources to ensuring that the SBL is put on a footing that is of international standard and to ensure that continuity exists.

Then I teach at the Nigerian Institute Of Advanced studies. I am one of the resource persons there and I enjoy doing this. I am also involved in a lot of other professional obligations so I am constantly juggling.

On a personal level I do a lot of philanthropic work; I have a foundation which I run with my twin brother, Dr. Mike Etomi. It is our way of giving back. The foundation is about alleviating the poverty of the Niger Delta people especially those caught in the oil saga. The foundation has a branch in the US and we are working with many good people.

I do not have too many direct business concerns though people do not believe me when I say this. It is true though; however, I do have investments here and there.

Church – I am a Vicar’s warden so that means I am deeply involved with the church. I was also the People’s Warden. I really treasure this religious aspect of my life because it completes my balancing act. As you grow older it is important to know where your priorities lie and to get closer to your Maker.

I noticed it is easy to walk up to you and start a discussion; you are very approachable. What is your reason for this?

It is a matter of my background. I worked with Chief [Ogunbanjo] who is not only a good lawyer but one of God’s best creations. He shared knowledge and was never afraid to expose you to his best clients or anything like that. If you grow up with that background it would be a disservice to hold information close to your chest. So I run an open door policy. If you want your message to be heard, the less mystery and obstacles you create, the better. I am also pretty hands-on and it is inspirational for the people I work with.

And finally, what is the one gadget you would rather not live without?

My Blackberry. When I am in the car, I am making quick responses especially if working with international clients. They do not understand why they have to wait three, four days to get a reply. And except I need to do a particular cross reference, I can easily give a functional opinion. I work on the go.

Spotlight: A Chat with George Etomi originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on August 18, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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The Desperate Situation in Nigeria|Sunday Relaxation originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on August 16, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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The theme for this year’s conference is Underdeveloped Nations, Failed Economies and the Future of the Legal profession. In many quarters, Nigeria has been referred to as a failed economy. Without condemnation or abuse, Secretary Clinton pointed out firmly that “The most immediate source of the disconnect between Nigeria’s wealth and its poverty is a failure of governance at federal, state and local level.” This was in a speech she delivered at a town hall meeting in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria with several society leaders and representatives of various organization.

I watched riveted as she challenged Nigeria to look beyond the position of a leader in Africa to that of a leader in the world. With an output of 2 million barrels per day, that should be the case. Instead what we have, according to a recent research by the United Nations, is a situation where the poverty level has risen from 46 percent 13 years ago to 76 percent. Obviously, something is very wrong. And that something could rightly be called corruption. The rule of law has been trampled upon in different levels of governance.

What is the future of the legal profession in conditions such as exist in Nigeria?

I believe that in every lawyer lies a budding reformer. It is with this attitude that we need to arm ourselves and march to Lagos for the NBA Annual General Conference.

Clinton says bad governance fuels Nigeria poverty gap | Politics | Reuters originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on August 12, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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For those who trained in Common Law jurisdictions (like I did), the House of Lord is sacrosanct; or at least, we were taught to view it that way. So it is easy to understand the nostalgia which accompanied my reading of the news. While we are advocating change and progress and maybe an eradication of excess traditionalism in the law profession, this comes as a shock. Is there such a thing as too much change?

The House of Lords had their last sitting today. What we now have, is a Supreme Court. What can we say? Change IS a constant.

If you are not sure, this is the home of Ryland v Fletcher (the doctrine of strict liability); Dunlop Pn.eumatic Tyre v. Selfridge and co Ltd (privity of contract); Donoghue v. Stevenson (the neighbour principle); Hedley Byrne v Heller (liability for pure economic loss), just to mention a few.

This a YouTube video by Lord Justice Mance explaining the reason for the change.

We here at The Nigerian Lawyer would like to give our last bow to the House of Lords and the great Justices who sat in it. Adieu!

Goodbye House of Lords | News | The Lawyer originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on July 30, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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Rule 33 of the RPC has an exception. This is what the exception says:

Publication in reputable law lists, in a manner consistent with the standards of conduct imposed by these Rules of brief biographical and informative data is permissible. Such data must not be misleading and may include only a statement of the lawyer’s name and the names of his professional associate; addresses, telephone numbers, cable addresses; date and place of birth and admission to the Bar; schools attended, with dates of graduation, degrees and other educational distinction; public or quasi-public offices; posts and honour; legal authorships; legal teaching positions; memberships and offices in the Bar Association and committees thereof, and positions in legal and scientific societies.

(Rule 33(b) Rules of Professional Conduct – Legal Practitioners Act Cap 207 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria)

This exception could have been written for the internet in general and social networks in particular. The power of the internet as a tool of advertising must not be underestimated – it is the widest media around and the only one which can effortlessly reach practically every nook and cranny of the world. Reputations are made and broken almost overnight through the internet. With the proliferation of social networks and the far-reaching tentacles of search engines, the internet has evolved beyond the website. In addition to the website, there are web directories, blogs, search engines and social networks.

Social networks are online communities which create social categories and foster relationships. Social networks and blogs are part of what is generally referred to as web 3.0. This is a more interactive internet which incorporates the different forms of media including audio and video. How does legal practice in Nigeria come into this? We’ll get to that in a moment.

There are several social networking sites on the internet but for the purpose of this article I will focus on three: LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com and Twitter.com.

LinkedIn.com

LinkedIn (Linked in) is a network of professionals in different fields. It is a network which connects prospective employers with prospective employees; professionals with prospective clients and peer networking.

How Does Your Practice Benefit From LinkedIn?

One aspect of legal practice which is crucial for the practitioner to remember is that even though your practice might be a business concern, it is the practitioner(s) that makes the business. As a result, it stands to reason that it is your expertise and that of the other lawyers in the firm that determine the expertise of that firm. This is essential to note because LinkedIn (and most social networks) rely on the personal approach.

In order to make the most of LinkedIn, once you have joined the network and created your profile, encourage the other lawyers in your firm to join. The first time you create your profile, your firm is automatically registered. The greatest part of LinkedIn is that it is free to join. But there are three other quick benefits:

1. High Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Search engines absolutely love LinkedIn. What this means is that if you are registered on LinkedIn as a tax lawyer for instance, there is a high probability that whenever anyone searches for a tax lawyer in Nigeria on Google.com, your profile will come up.

2. Easy Accessibility by Clients – Even though this in not an alternative to a website, it carries pertinent information about your firm, which makes it easier for clients to locate you.

3. Peer Review – This, in my estimation, is the best feature of LinkedIn. You can easily get past and current clients and colleagues to give you or your firm reviews. This adds to your reputation as an expert in your field.

Facebook.Com

This is another social network on the World Wide Web. While it is similar to LinkedIn in that they share the parallel purpose of connecting people, they are very different in the way they function.

With facebook, you can create a personal profile for yourself and another one for your firm. There are several additional features such as the creation of groups and pages. If for example, I am a partner at the firm, Soriver Solicitors (fictitious name), I could open a facebook profile with the name ‘Soriver Solicitors’, add my associates and other partners as my friends (if they are on facebook) and create a group of Soriver Solicitors where we can discuss business online, regardless of the different geographical locations. Depending on the nature of the business, the group could be open to all and sundry or it could be a closed group, by invitation only.

In the same way, Soriver Solicitors could create a page for the firm. This is usually open to everyone on facebook and interested people could become members (fans). They would automatically be notified of any news you put on the page.

The main advantage facebook has over LinkedIn is its wide reach. With over 100 million users, facebook is a marketing tool which demands complete utilization.

Twitter.Com

Twitter is in a totally different category from the other two. It can be defined as a micro blog which lets you answer in 140 words, the question: What are you doing? If yours is a firm that offers workshops, seminars and lectures, you will find twitter to be priceless.

How Does It Work?

Once you create your twitter account (and it is free to create by the way), search for leaders in your field and ‘follow’. This means that each time they post new tweets (news, updates and information), you are instantly notified. With time, people will begin to ‘follow’ you too so that once you post your tweets they are notified. That way, you keep the world up to date with your programmes. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for instance, needs a twitter account so that interested persons like myself, will follow them and become aware of their events and programmes.

Most social networks are free to join. Therein lays their appeal. This eliminates whatever financial constraints on the legal practitioner. The other source of discomfort might be lack of time to adequately manage or update accounts or access to the internet. If it is lack of internet access, let me just say that it is time you invested in the World Wide Web. Then again a good management service is the answer to both problems. For a reasonable fee, all you have to do is get the information to them and they transfer that to your account online.

Even though many professionals are of the view that the Rules of Professional Conduct need to be reviewed, social networks will afford you the opportunity to publicize ‘in a manner consistent with professional conduct’, your expertise in the legal profession.

Promoting Your Practice Through Social Networks originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on July 28, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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NEW FEATURES

After learning of the Release candidate version of the new O.S (available for download), I had it installed on my laptop and from the desktop after booting, it’s easy to see the changes right from the new Taskbar with its large icons (which can be customized) replacing the Quick Launch bar in Vista to the new Jumplists that allow for easy access to common tasks like reopening files opened previously in that application. The Quick Launch tool bar has been integrated into the task bar by enabling the pinning of applications directly on it. Obviously the task bar is the most eye-catching change you notice once you get the system running. The Show desktop button formerly on the Quick Launch bar has been moved to the far right of the Task bar right after the clock. Clicking the button immediately minimizes all windows and clicking again restores them.

Start-up and shut-down times have also improved and this is great news as I also observed that my battery life also improved. Power Management in Windows 7 is really commendable. The new OS comes with Internet Explorer 8 and Windows media Player 12. It also reintroduces games (Internet Backgammon, Internet Spades, Internet Checkers) that were removed from Windows Vista.

REMOVED FEATURES

Certain features once part of Windows vista are no longer included in Windows 7. Such applications include Windows Ultimate Extras, Windows Calender and Inkball. Others are offered as a free package called Windows Live Essentials and applications under this package include: Windows mail, Movie Maker and Windows Photo Gallery.

In part two of this series I look at the Hardware requirements, the different Versions and the cost of the OS. Overall I’ve done my best in a nutshell to outline my experience of the new Operating System – the new features, the changes and the removals. In intending to keep this simple, only the really basic features and changes were given account of here. It’s a tad bit unfair to jump to conclusions regarding how the OS will be rated all round as there seems to be the notion of Microsoft coming up with Service Pack upgrades after security loopholes get to be exploited. Let’s hope the release of Windows 7 signals the start of a new era of enjoying full stable releases. I look forward to your comments and feedback regarding your experience with Windows 7, the features you love the most, the ones you wish were done away with or better still what more features you’d love to be integrated to the ‘final, I hope’ release to be out on October 22 by Microsoft.

Unveiling Windows 7 (I) originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on July 20, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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I’ve written here before about the efficacy of using open source in place of pirated copies of Microsoft Office (as Lawyers and citizens of the world, we should know better!). This is a good opprotunity for you to dispose of that copy you have which did not ‘pass the validation test’. If it is online, and it is free, please try and hook up. Pirated copies are not just outdated, they could earn you a sabbatical in prison.

It is going online today. Check www.microsoft.com for more information.

Microsoft Office to go online — for free – Big Tech originally appeared on The Nigerian Lawyer on July 13, 2009. Feel free to forward to a friend.

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