Overtime, Nigerians have lamented the high cost of legal services, particularly of those who have attained the prestigious Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title thus denying them access to justice.
It is the dream of most Nigerian lawyers to attain the peak of their profession. This peak comes with the conferment of the prestigious rank of SAN: a rank annually conferred on Nigerian lawyers who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession and have been practising actively for not less than ten years.
In most cases, only the ‘super rich’ in the society can afford the services of the crème-dela-crème of legal professionals most especially the SANs (otherwise referred to as learned silk) because of what some Nigerians have come to described as their ‘outrageous’ service charges.
Legal charges not expensive, senior lawyers speak
Newsclickng.com gathered that till date, most Nigerians, for the fear of being charged ‘outrageously’, do not attempt to patronize lawyers. They will rather leave whatever case might make them seek the services of a lawyer to the ‘court of God’ for final judgement.
Dissecting the age-long misconception that lawyers charge outrageously for their services, a seasoned Oyo State based lawyer and Senior Advocate, Oladipo Olasope, SAN in an exclusive interview with Newsclickng.com said people need to filter information before accepting it hook, line and sinker.
He said most times lawyers spend their personal funds on cases that linger for as much as five years without charging their clients more.
“I will not agree that services of legal practitioners including SANS are unnecessarily expensive. In advanced countries, he disclosed lawyers charge per hour. That’s not the case here. You collect fees for a case and you remain on it for five years. By the time you are completing the case, you would have spent your personal funds. N5 million charged 5 years ago, does not retain the same value as it would have deteriorated seriously in value. These are the issues you have to look into,” he said.
Another renowned lawyer based in Lagos who spoke on condition of anonymity to Newsclickng.com said Nigerians are quick to heap the blame for the expensive service charge on lawyers not knowing that not all the money collected as legal fees are for the lawyers. He also said lawyers offer most of their services on a pro bono (free of charge) basis.
“The reason for high legal service charge is not far fetched. Law itself is expensive. Most times, lawyers don’t even get up to 40% of the legal fees they charge clients because of the cost of filing cases in court and other unforeseen factors that usually have huge financial implications.
Aside this, not all legal services are expensive. Although, a firm with a cheaper fee might seem attractive, but a more expensive and experienced law firm may properly handle a case better.
However, it is better to go with a fee structure one can afford. Most lawyers in Nigeria offer fixed, hourly and daily charges. The nature of legal services will normally determine the appropriate type of charges,” he said.
Why SAN selection process must be overhauled
Speaking on the lopsided nature of the selection process of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and why the process should be overhauled. Mr. Olasope said: “The SAN process is guided by the Legal Practitioners Act which provides for the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) which makes rules for the exercise.
However the LPPC is made up of only six lawyers who are senior advocates. Others in the committee are Judges. All applicants go through a rigorous selection process.
However, when 130 people are shortlisted as was done last year and only 72 are picked. The others even though are qualified, have to re-apply next year with no guarantees of getting the rank. Some people apply 13 times before getting it. Some 10 and some are lucky and get it once. The truth is that the exercise needs to be overhauled to address this apparent lopsided selection process.”
Expensive SAN robes for swearing-in
In what appears to be an age-long tradition, ambitious lawyers who wish to rise to the peak of their legal career begin the process by paying a certain non-refundable fee to apply.
However, the financial burden falls more on successful lawyers who made the final SAN list for the year. Investigation by Newsclickng.com revealed that because Nigeria is yet to produce her own legal attires, this year alone, each of the 72 SAN awardees cough out as much as £16,225 (N8.2 million) to foreign manufacturing company for the compulsory ceremonial SAN robes for swearing-in which held on Monday December 14, 2020.
According to document sourced by Newsclickng.com from a London based company, Ede and Ravenscroft Limited, known worldwide for manufacturing quality legal attires and accessories, all the materials for the fully (individually) customized robe for the 2020 SAN swearing-in ceremony quoted in pounds £ cost over N8.2m (excluding VAT, freight and customs clearing costs). Meanwhile, other foreign based legal attire manufacturing companies might charge more.
Newsclickng.com learnt that some lawyers prefer Ludlows in Australia. They (Ludlows) this newspaper gathered are renowned as largest legal wear retailer, producing the finest quality wigs and regalia in Australia.
Basic guide to becoming a SAN in Nigeria
The SAN rank is conferred by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, and comprising of the Attorney-General of the Federation, President of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, six SANs among other people) in line with Section 5(1) of the Legal Practitioners Act of 2004.
According to Section 5(2) of the Legal Practitioners Act, for a lawyer to get the award, he must have achieved distinction in the legal profession in such a manner as the Committee may from time to time determine.
The award started in 1975, modelled after the Queen’s Counsel rank in England, with its conferment on Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams and Dr. Nabo Graham Douglas. This shows how coveted and prestigious the award is that the criteria for meriting it are too strict for a vast majority of lawyers to meet.
Of course, the perks that come with the rank are enormously appealing: much more pay than a junior lawyer, much more respect and reverence and the fact that a SAN gets to always present his case first before any court when the opposing counsel is a junior lawyer.
It is worthy of note that the award can also be conferred on academics in law who have distinguished themselves and have made meaningful contribution to jurisprudence through research, teaching and published works in any reputable Nigerian University, Research Institute, Nigerian Law School and other recognized institutions.
SAN criteria
1. To become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, an applicant must be a citizen of Nigeria.
2. He must have a post-call standing of at least 10 years. If you are not a Lawyer yet, read: How to Become a Lawyer in Nigeria
3. Before you become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, you must be of good character and of impeccable integrity.
4. An applicant must register for the award with a non-refundable fee of N300, 000 (Three hundred thousand Naira).
5. He must submit to the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, a list of ten judges of superior courts of record before whom he has appeared and argued important cases. The Committee will select any three of those judges to give testimonial statements about the applicant.
6. He must also submit a list of colleagues with whom he has handled cases. Three of whom will be selected to give testimonial statements about him.
7. An applicant must submit the particulars of contested cases in which he personally handled: 8 judgments of the High Court, 6 judgments of the Court of Appeal and 3 judgments of the Supreme Court. But where he appeared only before the Supreme Court, he will be required to submit 6 judgments of the Supreme Court.
8. An applicant must show evidence of payment of practising fee and membership dues to his local branch of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for at least 10 years preceding the year of applying for the award of SAN.
9. He must also show evidence of the payment of income tax for at least 3 years preceding his application.
10. The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) has a duty to inspect the applicant’s firm to assess: the size and quality of his library; the number and competence of staff and the space and quality of other facilities in the firm.
11. An applicant must show evidence of having rendered pro bono cases to indigent clients as a form of community service.
12. For academics in law, at least 20 copies of outstanding published legal works must be presented to the Committee.
13. Academics must also show that their works are published by reputable publishers whose reputation shall be assessed and determined by the academic sub-committee of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC).
NB: Hard work, discipline and dedication are major hallmarks of becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Every year, hundreds of ambitious lawyers apply but only a handful get the award.
Justice delay
On the habitual delay in justice delivery in the country, Olasope said there are many sides to it. “You have the lawyers, judges and government. Let me explain the government side. For instance In Oyo State, the courts are congested and there has been a need to appoint more judges.
However the gladiators in the dejection exercise cannot agree as a result of which no judges have been appointed. The gladiators include the Attorney General who is the government. You can imagine that judges adjourn cases from November to March 2021 simply because their diaries are full. Some even adjourn to April.
However the NBA Ibadan branch has called for an emergency meeting to address this serious issue which causes serious delay in the administration of justice. Other causes are lazy lawyers and also lazy judges.”
Justice unaffordability
The problem of justice unaffordability findings by Newsclickng.com was the focus of a 2016 research by three lecturers – Dahiru Jafaru Usman of the Faculty of Law, Bayero University, Kano, Nurli Yaacob and Aspaella A. Rahman of the School of Law, University of Utara Malaysia, in Malaysia.
It was titled “An Inquiry on the Affordability of Legal Services and the Appropriateness of the Regular Courts for Consumer Redress in Nigeria”
The report identified prohibitive, staggering and high attorneys’ and court fees as the greatest barriers to access to justice in many jurisdictions. It noted that although access to justice crisis was a global issue, the Nigerian case was worrisome.
According to the study, delays, cost of lawyers’ service and the cost of litigating disputes before ordinary courts are the twin barriers against access to justice in the country. The report quoted statistics that over 100 million Nigerians lacked access to justice and representation.
It found that even those who summoned the courage to approach the courts may not get the redress in their lifetime as cases spanned in some occasions over three decades before being decided.
The researchers said: “Access to justice crisis in Nigeria is largely attributable to the cumbersome nature of the judicial system, the cost, and the poverty in the country.”
The report said although for decades the legal aid scheme was one of the measures initiated to cushion the rising justice crisis, evidence showed that legal aid funding globally has plummeted and Nigeria was not an exception. The legal aid scheme is underfunded and understaffed thereby compounding the problem.
The study further found that lawyers’ services, and services of the court, particularly for filing of processes, were expensive and beyond what an ordinary individual could afford. They are determined by the nature of the case and the amount of claims in the processes.
The researchers found that an expensive judicial system thrived in Nigeria despite the country’s high poverty rate.
They said: “Although the inability to afford legal services is a problem to millions of people considering the poverty rate in Nigeria, it is safe to argue that the poor cannot afford these expensive legal services and court-related fees.”
