An Exception on bar to Practice as a Legal Practitioner in Nigeria

Courtesy: Vanguardngr.com

The general rule is that a person can only practice as a Legal Practitioner in Nigeria only upon enrollment of his or her name at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

A Legal Practitioner is a person entitled in accordance with the provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) 1975, CAP L.11 Laws of the Federation, 2004, to practice as a Barrister or as a Solicitor, either generally or for the purposes of any particular office or proceedings.

Hence, a person must be qualified as a Lawyer to practice as a Barrister or Solicitor in Nigeria.

Section 2(1) Legal Practitioners Act provides that “a person shall be entitled to practice as a Barrister and a Solicitor if and only if his name is on the roll”

However,  Section 2(2) Legal Practitioners Act, a person who is not enrolled as a Legal Practitioner in Nigeria may practice as a barrister in specific proceedings. It provides:

“The Chief Justice of Nigeria may by warrant authorize any person upon proper application to practice as a Barrister for the purpose of particular proceedings described in the application”

The caveat in this is that such person must be entitled to practice as an advocate in any country where the legal practice is similar to that of Nigeria. It should be noted that the person must be duly qualified to practice in a country of his origin.

The main reason for this exemption is expedient to permit that person to practice as a Barrister for the purpose of particular proceedings.

One thing of note is that under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended,  Section 36(6) (c) provides that every person is entitled to be represented by any Legal Practitioner of his choice. This is also the rationale for the grant by the Chief Justice of Nigeria to foreign Legal Practitioners.

The laws in Nigeria limit eligibility for re-qualification to holders of qualifications from common law jurisdictions. Thus, a foreign national from Civil Law jurisdictions or the European Union cannot re-qualify to practice in Nigeria.

Furthermore, it will be self defeating for our laws whereby a Legal Practitioner who is qualified under a law similar to Nigeria is compelled to attend the Nigerian Law School all over just for the purpose of prosecuting a particular matter. This will be onerous and is capable of causing hardship on the Legal practitioner and invariably lead to injustice.

Note that this exemption does not extend to Legal Practitioners of foreign jurisdictions who intend to practice permanently in Nigeria. In this case, they will be compelled to attend the Nigeria Law School to qualify to practice in Nigeria.

In conclusion, the provision has effectively dealt with cases whereby a person who is already qualified to practice in a Country whose Legal System is similar to that of Nigeria and who intends to appear on behalf of any person for a particular proceeding to do so without having to re-qualify or enroll under the Nigerian Law.