By Sylvester Udemezue (udems)

MEMORY VERSE:
“There can be no settlement of a great cause without discussion, and people will not discuss a cause until their attention is drawn to it” — William Jennings Bryan.

1️⃣. Smoothening Relationship among Fee-Earners In Law Firms to Enhance Senior-Junior Cooperation, Promote Effectiveness in Law Firm Management, and Increase Productivity in Law Practice and Clientele Coordination

2️⃣. Expanding the legal practice space to create more employment opportunities for lawyers and Reduce the huge pressure on law firms. Says Jim Rohn, “Either you run the day or the day runs you.”

3️⃣Improving relationship between lawyers and Nigerian security and law enforcement agencies for a more efficient justice administration in Nigeria.

4️⃣. External & Internal Assaults on the legal Practice Space: How NBA and stakeholders can help stop non lawyers from stealing lawyer’s jobs. Need to fight off all aspects of external intrusions and encroachments into the Legal Practice Space. To achieve this all-important goal, we need the inner strength which comes from true unity; we may never know how strong we are until being strong is the only choice we have.

5️⃣. Embarrassing Delay and Diminishing Public Confidence in Justice Delivery & Administration in Nigeria: Causes, Symptoms And Way Out.

6️⃣.Improving the welfare and work- conditions of lawyers in the National Youth Service Corps

7️⃣. Improved Security and Welfare of judicial officers as a Way Out of worsening judicial corruption and Slowness of Justice administration.

8️⃣. Curbing Continual Shutdown of Courts of Law in Nigeria as a way of accelerating justice dispensation in Nigeria.

9️⃣. Role of NBA and Stakeholders in Liberalising and strengthening the process of judicial appointments in Nigeria to sustain merit, reduce ineffectiveness and curb corruption.

?. Place of NBA and Stakeholders in Promoting Professional Legal Education and upgrading teaching and learning infrastructure in legal education Institutions in Nigerian. Need for stronger partnership among stakeholders, to improve on the state of Legal Education and capacity building, real continuing legal education and professional development, for lawyers. The way to success lies in continuous pursuit of knowledge!

1️⃣1️⃣. The Young Lawyer as Hope for the Future in the Legal Profession in Nigeria: Strengthening Bar Professional Mentorship, Integrity-building, Value-inculcation, and Prioritizing the Young Lawyer’s Welfare, Security, and Inclusiveness. Need to urgently improve the plight of young lawyers in order to restore their confidence in the profession. Since the future lies in the hands of the young, a better, more secure future starts with their present happiness and satisfaction. A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

1️⃣2️⃣. Issues, Challenges and Prospects in Achieving full Independence of the judiciary in Nigeria: Role of NBA and Stakeholders in the Legal Profession.

1️⃣3️⃣. Award of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Prospects.

1️⃣4️⃣.Reforming Bar Elections in Nigeria to Promote transparency and Acceptability and Minimize Disenchantment and Division within the profession.

1️⃣5️⃣. The NBA Constitution and Need for more Inclusiveness, Accountability and Welfare and Unity within the legal profession.

1️⃣6️⃣. Effective Management of Internal Squabbles and Discontent as a tool for Promoting Unity, Oneness and progress within the Legal Profession in Nigeria. Stronger unity within the profession is essential to timely realization of set goals. The deepest and sincerest form of communication is communion; even the weak become strong when they’re united. Where there’s unity, there you find progress, success and victory. Need to fish out major grievances of the various segments within the profession, and assuage same. Jay Weatherill said, “You don’t unite by ignoring the questions that have to be faced and answered.”

1️⃣7️⃣. Unprofessionalism and professional misconduct among legal practitioners: Causes, Implications and Way out.“Success is a nothing more than a few disciplines, practiced everyday”, says Jim Rohn. A lawyer without ethics is a wild beast let loose upon the world. This is why a one-time Chief Justice of the United States` Supreme Court, Earl Warren, once declared that “In civilized life, law floats in the sea of ethics”.

1️⃣8️⃣.Strengthening Lawyer-Client Relationship for effective legal service delivery and client Confidence-Building.

1️⃣9️⃣. Improved Regulation and Standardizationof Mechanisms, Processes and Procedure for lawyer’s remuneration, professional legal charge and recovery of professional fees in line with international best practices.

2️⃣0️⃣. Virtual Court Proceedings as the new normal: Issues, Challenges and Prospects.

2️⃣1️⃣. Full Implementation of structures for E-filing and E-Service of Court Processes in Nigeria as a means of promoting effective and timely justice administration in Nigeria.

2️⃣2️⃣.Tips on Effective Planning and Successful start-up of Law Firms in Nigeria.

2️⃣3️⃣. Recurring Cases of Alleged Sexual Abuse, Harassment and Victimisation within the legal profession in Nigerian: nature, causes and cure!

2️⃣4️⃣. Public Law Teachers And Private Law Practice in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Doing what’s the best for the Profession and Country.

2️⃣5️⃣. Fight against Insecurity In Nigeria: Role of Nigerian Lawyers, the NBA, the Legal Profession and the Law.

2️⃣6️⃣. Enhancing Realism and Effectiveness of Laws: Role of the Legal Profession in law promoting law Reform, Legislative Drafting and Public Law-Making in Nigeria

2️⃣7️⃣. Current Shape of NBA Electioneering Campaigns: Issues, Challenges and Prospects

2️⃣8️⃣. Are Law Teachers in Nigeria Effective in Promoting Law Practice, Law Reforms and Good Governance in Nigeria.

2️⃣9️⃣. Diagnostic and Therapeutic Assessment of Effectiveness of current structures mechanisms for fight against corruption in Nigeria: Role of Lawyers and stakeholders in the legal profession

3️⃣0️⃣. Role of the Legal Profession in Promoting Good Governance Ethics and Constitutionalism among public office holders in Nigeria. Need to pay closer attention to promotion and defence of rule of law and core principles of democratic constitutionalism, in Nigeria

3️⃣1️⃣. Disobedience to Court orders by powers that be: Causes, Implications and Way Out; Role of NBA and Stakeholders in curbing the menace

3️⃣2️⃣. Role of the Nigerian Judiciary in promoting Party Politics and Democracy: Issues Challenges and Prospects

3️⃣4️⃣. Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander: Introducing the Election Petition Model into Regular Civil and Criminal Proceedings as a way out of chronic delay in justice administration in Nigeria.

3️⃣5️⃣. Delimiting the Role of Statutes, Rules of Court and Practice Directions in Justice Administration and Dispensation: Has Frequent Rules amendment and issuance of Practice Directions Effectively enhanced justice delivery?

3️⃣5️⃣. Social Media as a tool For effective Law Practice: Matters Arising

3️⃣6️⃣. Strengthening Legal English for smoother professional legal communication, greater efficiency in Law Practice and effective law office management.

3️⃣7️⃣. The Legal Profession in the Post-Covid-19 Era: Issues Arising

3️⃣8️⃣. Effective Utilization of Information Technology and Communication in Law Practice and Law Office Management in Nigeria: The Journey so far.

3️⃣9️⃣. Teaching and Learning of Law in Nigeria: Assessing Effectiveness, Measuring Output and recommending ways for improvement

4️⃣0️⃣. Law Practice in Nigeria as A Risky Calling/Enterprise: Issues, Challenges and Prospects.

4️⃣1️⃣. The “Charge and Bail” Phenomenon in the Legal Profession in Nigeria: Causes, Implications and Solutions.

4️⃣2️⃣. Does Law Practice in Nigeria Measure up to International Standards?

4️⃣3️⃣. Enhancing Remuneration and Welfare packages for Lawyers in Public Service in Nigeria: Role of NBA and Stakeholders.

4️⃣4️⃣. Role of Lawyers in Public Prosecution in promoting strict adherence to due process of law in criminal Justice Administration in Nigeria.

4️⃣5️⃣. Making Courtrooms In Nigeria more Conducive for the Bar, the Bench and the observing public: Role of NBA and Stakeholders.

4️⃣6️⃣. Rotation, Reform or Restructure: What Governance Structure or model is best-suited for sustaining Nigeria’s Presidential Federal Republic?

4️⃣7️⃣. Reform or Restructure? Current structure of (practice in the) Appellate Courts as a Clog on the Wheel of Progress in Justice Administration and Dispensation in Nigeria.

4️⃣8️⃣. BAR AND BENCH: Strengthening Legal Professional Disciplinary Procedures and Mechanisms as a way out of rampant misconduct among lawyers and Judges in Nigeria.

4️⃣9️⃣. Reassessing Career Prospects for Lawyers in Nigeria.

5️⃣0️⃣. The Concept of “Family First” versus Need for an
Effective Career in Law Practice: Where to Strike the right Balance.

5️⃣1️⃣. The Married Lawyer versus the single Lawyer: Role of marriage in Law Practice and in building an effective Career in the legal profession?

5️⃣2️⃣. Rampancy of Marital Squabbles and Break-ups in Nigeria : Solving the Problems through the Law.

5️⃣3️⃣. Secularism versus Religious Orthodoxy in Nigeria: Curbing the Negative Influence of Religious Bigotry and Fundamentalism in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic setting.

5️⃣4️⃣.Need to Halt Brutalization and Harassment of Lawyers in the course of their lawful professional work. Our job, our duty, our responsibility to ensure the safety and security of other citizens cannot be complete until we can guarantee the safety and security of ourselves in the course of our duty.

5️⃣5️⃣. LIVE TO PRACTICE or PRACTICE TO LIVE: Law Practice In Nigeria and the health/well-being of the Practitioner.

5️⃣6️⃣. Revisiting ADR As Hope for the future of law practice in Nigeria.

5️⃣7️⃣. Reforming the Nigerian Police towards greater effectiveness: Improving practice and procedure for Investigations, arrest and detention of suspects

5️⃣8️⃣. Arson in the Temple of Justice: #EndSARS Lessons for the justice sector in Nigeria

5️⃣9️⃣. Role of BOSAN In stabilizing law practice and the law profession in Nigeria: Myth or Reality?

6️⃣0️⃣. RULE AGAINST & IN FAVOUR OF ADVERTISING IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION: HOW CAN LAWYERS LEGITIMATELY PROMOTE THEIR TRADE AND WIN CLIENTS?
6️⃣1️⃣. Non-Lawyer Policemen in Public Prosecutions in Nigeria: issues arising

◾This list is not exhaustive
➖➖
The five Steps To Achievement are:
✔️Think Clearly;
✔️Plan purposefully;
✔️Prepare Prayerfully;
✔️Proceed Positively;
✔️Pursue Persistently.

Then says Napoleon Hill, “First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. You must first plan your work and then work your plan ” The first step is to sit down and begin to discuss. And no forum can be more auspicious than the NBA-AGC’s, workshops, semina and Stakeholders roundtable . A good discussion on material issues increases the dimensions of everyone who takes part. Our best comes out when we have honest discussions on issues that matter. Nelson Mandela said, “No problem is so deep that it cannot be overcome, given the will of all parties, through discussion…”
George Bernard Shaw said, “New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths”. We should seek by all means in our power, to analyse our challenges, possible causes and solutions, by trying to remove them, through discussions in a spirit of collaboration and good will. We can overcome our challenges and make greater progress if we can start refocussing our priorities and prioritizing the focus of our discussions and action plans.
Long live the NBA!
Long live Nigerian lawyers!!
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Respectfully,
Sylvester Udemezue (Udems)
08109024556, 08021365545.udemsyl@gmail.com.