Judicial Reform: Body of Benchers cracks down on charge-and-bail lawyers

Nigeria's apex regulatory body for the legal profession, the Body of Benchers (BoB), is taking a firm stance against "charge-and-bail" lawyers, a practice it deems embarrassing and detrimental to the profession's standards. The BoB, responsible for admitting law graduates to the Nigerian Bar, expressed deep concern over the quality of legal practitioners in the country.

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The Body of Benchers cannot afford to produce lawyers when there are not enough jobs to accommodate them, hence the need to regulate and put a benchmark on those to be called in any given year.

This concern was highlighted during a recent three-day Call to Bar ceremony in Abuja, where 6,010 new lawyers were inducted, swelling the nation's legal fraternity to an estimated 250,000 practitioners. The BoB's Chairman, Albert Akpomuje, SAN, pointed fingers at universities for the bloated number of law graduates. He criticized accredited law faculties for admitting students beyond their allocated quotas, contributing to a situation where many lawyers struggle to find adequate employment.

To address the dwindling professionalism and job scarcity, the BoB has established a committee tasked with streamlining and recommending the number of aspirants to be called to the Bar each year. "The Body of Benchers cannot afford to produce lawyers when there are not enough jobs to accommodate them," the body stated, emphasizing the need to regulate the influx of new practitioners. This measure aims to prevent lawyers from resorting to touting for briefs outside magistrate courts or waiting at police stations, a practice associated with "charge-and-bail" lawyers.

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As a regulatory body, we owe a duty to the Government, the people of this country, and, in particular, the noble profession of law, to ensure that admission into this honourable profession does not become an all-comers affair, as this will inevitably have the propensity to reduce the standard expected from this noble profession.

The BoB stressed its duty to the government and the public to ensure that admission into the legal profession maintains a high standard. It asserted that Nigeria's legal profession is globally recognized as number one, and therefore, aspirants must be the "best of the best" and uphold this standard in both character and learning after being called to the Bar. The body is actively working to set benchmarks for those entering the profession to safeguard its integrity and reputation.

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our noble profession is number one in the world.