Legal Education in Nigeria: A Chronicle of Reforms and Transformation Under Tahir Mamman is a case study of change that tells the story of opportunities to transform legal education. We can trace the history of legal education to about 1962 when the first indigenous law faculties and the Nigerian Law School were established. In spite…
IBA African Regional Forum releases a new guide on data protection and privacy laws for the legal profession
The International Bar Association (IBA) African Regional Forum has released a new Data Protection/Privacy Guide for Lawyers in Africa, in recognition of growing requirements for safeguarding of personal data in accordance with legal principles across the continent. The guide was developed in the context of the European Union’s data protection law, the General Data Protection…
Nigeria Bar Association launches survey on technology and globalisation
Following the creation of the Future of Legal Practice Committee, by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which was recently established with a mandate of facilitating significant improvement in the quality and standard of legal services rendered by legal practitioners. The NBA has now launched a survey of all its members collating the views of both…
An Appraisal of Professional Legal Ethics and Proper Conduct for Lawyers In Nigeria
Abstract Members of the legal profession in Nigeria have an enormous responsibility to discharge, not only to their clients but also to the court, the profession, their professional colleagues, and the society at large. However, for some time in the recent past, both the Bench and the Bar have had cause to complain about the conduct of…
Legal Skills: Making a Real Change in Nigerian Legal Education
Abstract The hallmark of legal education is the transfer and acquisition of knowledge of legal theories and skills. The purpose of this chapter is to examine those legal skills that are crucial to both the study and practice of law. This chapter argues that legal education in Nigeria is confronted with a crisis that can be attributed to the non-teaching of functional legal skills to…
Current Day Realities of Legal Education in Nigeria: Challenges, Prospects and Productive Way Forward
Abstract “We need to raise the standard of legal education in Nigeria. The standard is too poor and too weak, and we see it in the quality of lawyers that come to our chambers”. The above were the words of the former chair of the NBA while describing the pitiable state of legal education in…
Former Nigerian Bar President states Body of Benchers is ill-equipped to regulate legal profession
The immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association, A. B Mahmoud, SAN, has said the Body of Benchers was ill-equipped to regulate the affairs of the legal profession. The body, which comprises of lawyers and judges is put in place to regulate the education of aspirants to the bar and consequently admits lawyers who…
Update on legal and regulatory reforms in Nigeria
Back in September 2017 we reported on the Nigerian Bar Association’s legal and regulatory reform objectives. Since then a number of initiatives have been undertaken. The NBA President, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, recently attended a meeting with the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) and presented them with a number of documents for review: An executive summary…
Potential legal and regulatory reform in Nigeria?
We are delighted that the Nigerian Bar Association has expressed interest in the ICLR network and will be sending representation to the Singapore conference. Although the NBA is only responsible for part of the system of regulating lawyers at present, it has taken a leadership role in promoting the adoption of a major overhaul of…
80% of major jurisdictions use central qualifying assessment
In an international benchmarking exercise, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in England and Wales finds that almost 80% of the jurisdictions surveyed have a common assessment as part of lawyer qualification. Report on SRA website