CONUNDRUMS REGARDING LEGAL PROFESSION REGULATION IN NIGERIA (PART 2)

Abstract

This author believes that legal profession regulation in Nigeria is multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, and that the subject hashardly ever been given such a research or discussion-attention as would be considered to be thorough or in-depth enoughto help to avert or resolve massive controversies and uncertainties which have until now persisted on the subject. Hence,with the aim of providing a detailed and all-encompassing research material towards resolving apparently intractableconundrums surrounding exact horizons and appropriate dimensions of regulation of legal profession in Nigeria, or, atleast, of provoking serious discussions in the wider public space towards this end, this author had set out on a three-partdiscourse, the first part of which comprehensively examined nature of regulation and some existing legal and institutionalframework for regulation of the Nigerian Bar, while delineating exact regulative boundaries and analysing the interplay ofpowers among such regulators. The present paper is the second part, focusing on a dimension that has hardly ever beenexpansively and comprehensively discussed, namely: whether, and to what extent each of such institutions as the office ofthe Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Nigerian Supreme Court, the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, courts oflaw, public opinion, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the National Identity Management Commission, theCorporate Affairs Commission, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, could be said to be involved in regulating the NigerianBar. Part 3 (comprised in a separate paper) undertakes an in-depth assessment of institutional framework for regulating theNigerian Bench/judiciary. It is the author’s expectation that such broad discussions on resolving these conundrums arenecessary towards repositioning stakeholders to be better assessors of extent of effectiveness of existing regulatorystructures and institutions, which knowledge could help to move the profession forward. Research emphasis in the entirework, is not on mere legal doctrines or concepts but on people and institutions regulated by law as well as on the law andregulative experience of these institutions. The approach is both descriptive and expository, adopting the doctrinal methodin a largely socio-legal style.