On Wednesday, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), examined the nation’s legal system critically and bemoaned the decline in the legal profession’s commitment to ethical standards.
She lamented that the legal profession’s rigorous devotion to ethical standards was not just waning but also confronting significant obstacles.
At the Body of Benchers Complex in Abuja, the CJN gave a speech during the public presentation of the findings of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee’s Directions.
Justice Kekere-Ekun called for a renewed commitment from legal professionals to the core principles of professionalism, discipline, and ethics in order to counteract the tendency.
She said, “It is instructive to note that the Body of Benchers, as the apex institution of the legal profession in Nigeria, is uniquely positioned to lead the charge in this regard.
“The responsibility of upholding the legal profession’s sanctity rests heavily on its shoulders, and I have no doubt that the
Body will continue to rise to the occasion.
“The enforcement of professional discipline among legal practitioners, through the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), is a vital function that must be pursued with fairness, transparency, and unwavering resolve.”
The Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chief Adegboyega Solomon Awomolo, SAN, and all of the Body’s members were commended by the CJN, who presided over the first edition of the Body of Benchers annual lecture and the public presentation of the Body of Benchers Law Report, for their vision and commitment in starting the lecture.
The presentation, according to her, was a monument to the Body’s gradual evolution as well as a much-needed forum for critical thinking, real-world discussion, and introspective thoughts on the function of the Body of Benchers in Nigeria’s legal profession.
“The lecture initiative was conceived as an annual event to serve multiple purposes, including providing a forum for robust, critical, and well-researched discussions and shedding light on the operations of the Body of Benchers, both nationally and internationally, to foster greater understanding of its critical role in legal practice and professional discipline,” she said.
The CJN went on to say that the lecture would discuss the Body’s challenges and future prospects, assess Nigeria’s legal profession’s ethical standards to guarantee the highest standards of professionalism, discipline, and integrity among attorneys, and provide a forward-looking agenda for bolstering the legal profession and boosting public trust in the judiciary and legal practice.
She begged that the project be continued and grown, pointing out that it should be a means of establishing unambiguous standards for professional ethics, ongoing legal education, and reforms in the judicial system in addition to being a forum for introspection and discussion.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, a former governor of Lagos State and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), will deliver the inaugural edition of the annual lecture, which has as its theme “Half-A-Century of the Body of Benchers: The Past, Present, and Future of Maintaining the Ethics of the Legal Profession in Nigeria.”
