REPORT OF THE ONE DAY WORKSHOP ON THE FUTURE OF LEGAL PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

NOVEMBER 21ST 2007 AT THE FEDERAL PALACE HOTELS, VICTORIA ISLAND LAGOS.

1. INTRODUCTION

The NBA Working Group on Foreign Legal Practice (NBA WG) in Nigeria held a one day workshop on the future of legal practice in Nigeria on Wednesday 21st November 2007 at The Federal Palace Hotels Victoria Island Lagos.

The workshop was declared opened at 9:00am by the NBA President; Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) who was also the Chairperson of the day. Thereafter, a welcome address was given by the facilitator Mr. George Etomi, Chairman, NBA Section on Business Law who is also the Chairman of the NBA Working Group.

Presentations were made in three key areas.

Presentations on Foreign Practice in Nigeria were made by Mr. Femi Lijadu, Mr. Desmond Guobadia and Mrs. Mfon Ekong Usoro. The session on Continued Legal Education was handled by Ms. Jumoke Akinjide while Mr.  Babajide Ogundipe made presentations on Countering Money Laundering.

The workshop noted that many Nigerian lawyers have still not familiarized themselves with the issues involved in the three areas covered by the workshop this notwithstanding the fact that these topics have appeared repeatedly at various conferences and seminars organized by the NBA.

2. WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS

The three major issues discussed were:

i. Foreign Practice in Nigeria

ii. Continued Legal Education

iii. Countering money laundering

3. ATTENDEES

There were a total of 55 attendees with majority being Partners of  Commercial Law firms in the country.

4. RECOMMENDATIONS

The workshop recommended that the generality of lawyers especially law firms should get actively involved in the following:

i. Debates concerning globalization of Legal Services

ii. Improving standards through an active Continuing Legal Education Programme

iii. Countering Money Laundering

After due deliberations, the following recommendations were made:

A. FOREIGN PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

 The workshop accepted the recommendation of the NBA WG that the policy of the NBA in this area should be that of engagement.
Consequently, the following recommendations were made:

a.) There should be effective participation in the WTO negotiations

i.) NBA’s representation in Government’s negotiation team;

ii.) NBA should articulate position papers/proposals on negotiation topics;

b.) There should be participation in IBA WTO negotiations

i.)Formulation of responses to consultation topics

c.) Strengthening the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) through subsidiary legislation:
The workshop noted that the LPA allows for foreign legal practitioners to practice in Nigeria if they are called to the Nigerian Bar. However, regulations determining the mode, scope and manner of practice are not provided for because of the absence of subsidiary legislation. The workshop also noted that the globalization of legal services notwithstanding, the major industrialized countries still have regulations guiding entry into their market. This is allowed under the WTO.

Consequently, the workshop recommended that the NBA should advocate for subsidiary legislation in Nigeria which should provide the following:

 i.) Safeguards/Transparency

ii.) Determine scope of practice:
The workshop noted that in determining the scope of practice, we need to base representation in our courts on admittance into the Nigerian Bar. It was further noted that the NBA should set up a Legal Services Advisory Council. The workshop also raised the issue on whether to base our rules on Home Country Law or Third Country Law. We need to also decide if the foreign firms would be made to work in partnership with local firms or if we would make room for standalone foreign firms subject to regulation by the NBA.

d.) Reforms in the NBA: The workshop recommended the following reforms to make the NBA more responsive to emerging global trends.

• The NBA to set up a Legal Services Advisory Council which shall be a standing committee for regulating the supply of legal services by foreign lawyers

• The Professional rules should be reformed: Under this, the workshop noted that these rules should be amended to keep pace with those from other jurisdictions we are expected to compete with e.g rules on advertising.

• There should be a mandatory reporting system to NBA

• Our Administration of justice system should be reformed such that our judges are brought up to speed and kept abreast with global trends

• We need to develop local capacity through compulsory Continuing Legal Education

• Local content should serve as Government policy. It was noted under this heading that Government is still the largest consumer of legal services and should ensure that its policy on this should encourage local firms to compete internationally.

• We need to have a partnership structure with executive and legislature in carrying on Trade negotiations

B. CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION (CLE)

The workshop noted that a continued legal education programme was approved by the National Executive Council of the NBA (NEC) as far back as 2001 but regrettably has not taken off. However, the CLE Committee of the NBA headed by Professor Ernest Ojukwu has come up with a time table for the programme to commence in January 2008. The workshop examined the bill to amend the LPA which covers the CLE programme and made the following observations:

a.) The Bill needs to be amended to make it more robust so it can meet the challenges of providing an international standard CLE programme.

b.) The programme itself should cover all practicing lawyers in Nigeria with varying degree of requirement de;pending on their seniority and exposure.

c.) There is an urgent need to develop local capacity through compulsory participation in Continuing Legal Education Programmes.

d.) There must be a mandatory obligation on law firms to provide training and modalities should be worked out to effect this. This should be in addition to other training providers that would be licensed from where CPD points can be obtained.

 

C. COUNTERING MONEY LAUNDERING

Again, the workshop noted that many participants were hearing about the obligations of legal practitioners under the anti-money laundering regime for the first time in spite of the wide publicity given to its existence. The workshop noted that the requirements for legal practitioners to register with the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) in the form advertized in one of the national dailys is both unworkable and impractical. The workshop also noted that some provisions under the Money Laundering Act would put lawyers in breach of their duty of confidentiality to their clients which could potentially expose them too huge claims for damages. The Constitution guarantees citizens the right not to incriminate themselves and lawyers who are only their agents should not be put in the position to take this right away from them. Consequently, the workshop made the following recommendations:

a.) The NBA as a matter of principle should support the fight against money laundering.

b.) The NBA should set up an Anti Money Laundering Unit which should work closely with SCUML and the Advisory Council to keep a register of all its members especially law firms that are involved in transactions that could have potential money laundering incidents.

c.) SCUML notwithstanding, the NBA must set up a credible self regulatory mechanism to serve as a check against its members who get involved in money laundering.

d.) The Money Laundering Act should be amended to raise the amount of cash transaction provided for under its reporting requirement to make it more practical.

 e.) The NBA should write to SCUML on its recent advertorial requiring its members to register and request that a more workable approach should be put in place to address the matter in light of the issues raised above. Consequently, SCUML should suspend the requirement of lawyers to register until the measures recommended are put in place.

5. CONCLUSION

The National Executive Council of the NBA (NEC) should be informed of all these recommendations so that it can proactively ensure that they come into force immediately. The workshop ended by 5:0pm