Classes of persons Entitled to practise as Legal Practitioners in Nigeria
Under the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962
contained in CAP L.11, Volume 8, LFN, 2004 three classes of persons are
entitled to practise as Legal Practitioners in Nigeria:
1) Those entitled to practice generally.
2) Those entitled to practice for the purpose of any particular office.
3)
Those entitled to practice
for the purpose of any particular proceeding.
Section 24 of the LPA.
1. THOSE
ENTITLED TO PRACTICE GENERALLY
Section
2(1) of the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) provides that:
a.
A
person shall be entitled to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor if, and only
if, his name is on the Roll.
Section 7(1) of LPA provides that a person shall be entitled to have
his name enrolled if, and only if –
b.
He produces a certificate
of his call to bar to the Registrar of the Supreme Court. Section
4(1) of the LPA, as amended by Decree 9 of 1992, provides that a person
shall be entitled to be called to Bar if:
i) He is a
citizen of Nigeria.
ii) He produces a
qualifying certificate to the Benchers.
iii) He satisfies
the Benchers that he is of good character.
Note that Section 4(2) of the
LPA as amended by Decree 9 of 1992 further provides that a person may also
be entitled to be called to Bar even if he is a non-citizen of Nigeria, provided he has the qualifying certificate
and is of good character.
Section 4(4) of the LPA provides
that the Body of Benchers shall issue to every person called to Bar, a
certificate of Call to bar, which shall be in such form as the Benchers may
determine.
Section 5(1) of the
Legal Education Act provides that a person shall be entitled to have a
qualifying certificate issued to him by the Council stating that he is qualified to be called to the Bar if:
1. He is a
citizen of Nigeria.
2. He has
successfully completed a course of practical training at the Law School for an
academic year except where the Council otherwise directs.
Please note that Section 5(2) of the Legal Education Act as amended by
Decree No. 8 of 1992 however provides that a person may be entitled to have a
qualifying certificate issued to him even
if he is a non-citizen of Nigeria.
Attendance at the Law School as well as Law Office and Court Attachment
is mandatory.
A student who fails to satisfy the minimum attendance may not be
allowed to sit for the examinations or may be asked to withdraw. Also note that attendance is on full-time
basis.
EXEMPTION
FROM THE NIGERIAN LAW SCHOOL COURSE
The Council of Legal
Education is empowered to exempt a person from attendance at the Law School before issuing of a qualifying
certificate. See Section 5(1)(b) and
5(2)(b) of the Legal Education Act.
However, it is only in exceptional circumstances that the Council will
exercise this power under the
Professional Bodies (Special Professions) Act, 1972 and the Professional Bodies
(Legal Provision) Exemption Order, 1973.
There are two kinds of exemptions, full exemption and partial
exemption:
FULL EXEMPTION entails
exemption from both Bar Part 1 and Bar Final while THE PARTIAL EXEMPTION entails exemption from only Bar Part 1.
CRITERIA FOR
FULL EXEMPTION
A person who satisfies
the following conditions may be exempted on application from attending the
course at the Law School:
1) If he is a
Nigerian citizen.
2) If he is
qualified to be admitted at the Law School.
3) If his
qualifying subjects for admission to the Law School include all the core
subjects prescribed by Council of Legal Education.
4) If at the
time he qualified to attend the Law School or a reasonable time thereafter, he
lost the opportunity of doing so for reasons beyond his control.
See the Legal Notice No.
439 of 5th July 1989.
CRITERIA FOR
PARTIAL EXEMPTION FOR
NIGERIAN
UNIVERSITY TEACHERS
1. Graduates
from Common Law jurisdiction who have been teaching law for five years and
above in a Faculty of Law in a Nigerian University can be exempted, and
2. Graduates
from Common Law jurisdictions that have taught Law in a Faculty of Law in a
Nigerian university for 10 years and above can be exempted from Bar Part 1 and
can then proceed to Bar Part 2.
See
Legal Notice No. 446 of the 3rd of August 1989.
2. THOSE ENTITLED TO PRACTICE BY VIRTUE OF
OFFICE
Section 2(3) of the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) provides as follows:
A person for the time being exercising the
functions of any of the following offices, that is to say –
a.
The
Office of the Attorney General,
b.
Solicitor General or
c.
Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation or of a State;
d.
Such
offices in the Civil Service of the Federation or of a State as the Attorney
General of the Federation or of the State, as the case may be, may by order
specify,
shall be
entitled to practise as a Barrister and Solicitor for purposes of that office.
The offices so specified
to practise by the (Entitlement to
Practise as Barristers and Solicitors) Federal Officers Order of 1992
include:
1. Law Officers
in the Ministry of Justice viz:
i) Directors;
ii) Deputy
Directors;
iii) Assistant
Directors;
iv) Chief Legal
Officers;
v) Assistant
Chief Legal Officers;
vi) Principal
Legal Officers;
vii)Senior Legal
Officers;
viii) Legal Officers; and
viii)
Pupil Legal Officers.
Others who may practise
under Section 2(3) include:
·
Law Officers in the Legal Services Department of
the National Assembly Office, Federal Road Safety Commission et cetera.
·
In fact, Law Officers in the various parastatals
can also practise.
3. THOSE ENTITLED TO
PRACTISE IN PARTICULAR PROCEEDINGS BY WARRANT
Section
2(2) of the LPA provides that upon application to the Chief
Justice by or on behalf of any person appearing to the Chief Justice to be
entitled to practise as an advocate in any country where the legal system is
similar to that of Nigeria, and the Chief Justice is of the opinion that it is
expedient to permit that person to practise as a Barrister for the purpose of
proceedings described in the application, the Chief Justice may by warrant
under his hand authorise that person on
payment to the Registrar of such fee not exceeding N50 as may be specified in the warrant to practise as a
Barrister for the purposes of those proceedings and of any appeal brought in
connection with those proceedings.
AWOLOWO V. USMAN SARKI, MINISTER OF
INTERNAL AFFAIRS (1962) LLR 177; (1966) NSCC 209. In that case there was an application for a
Counsel in England to come and represent Awolowo and he was refused entry.
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