PROTOCOLS

1. It gives me pleasure to welcome you all to this auspicious occasion of the meeting of the General Council of the Bar (GCB). On 9 January this year, my brother, the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, CON, SAN, made history by inaugurating the GCB after many years of non-existence. Today, in addition to the meeting of the GCB, we are here witnessing yet another epoch-making event: the inauguration of the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee (LPRC) established by Section 15 (1) of the Legal Practitioners’ Act, thus:

There shall be a Committee, to be called the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee, which shall consist of-

• the Attorney-General of the federation, who shall be the chairman of the Committee;
• the Attorney-General of the States; and
• the president of the Association and three other members of the Association.

• I congratulate the statutory members of this Committee, including myself, on their inauguration. I specifically congratulate the 3 (three) nominees of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on their nomination to the Committee.  

• The LPRC, under the chairmanship of the Honourable Attorney General and Minister of Justice, is charged with the following very important specific duty:

The Committee shall have power to make orders regulating generally the charges of legal practitioners and, without prejudice to the generality of that power, any such order may include provision as to all or any of the following matters, that is to say –

• the maximum charges which may be made in respect of any transaction or activity of a description specified by the order;
• the ascertainment of the charges appropriate for any transaction or activity by reference to such considerations as may be so specified;
• the taking by legal practitioners of security for the payment of their charges and the allowance of interest with respect to the security; and
• agreements between practitioners and clients with respect to charges

         See Section 15(3) of the LPA.

• The issue of the remuneration of lawyers has, in recent times, been on the front-burner and top on the Agenda of the Nigerian Bar Association. The omission to constitute the LPRC over the years has created a huge gap with respect to the regulation of charges by legal practitioner as the extant Remuneration Order has become dated and is wholly out-of-touch with current socio-economic realities, thereby making the enforcement of the same impracticable. There is, therefore, a huge task before the LPRC; to immediately come up with a Remuneration Order that will address the problem, and improve lawyers’ earnings for the varying legal services,

• While congratulating members of the Committee, I encourage them to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the LPA, which remains the principal legal framework for legal practitioners in Nigeria. I also urge them to take up this great task with all sense of responsibility, commitment, and the necessary urgency.

• Finally, I congratulate every member of the GCB for the successful holding of yet another meeting of the Council and wish you all successful deliberations.

• Thank you and God bless you all.

Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN

PRESIDENT