By Stanley Maduabuchi Ofoegbu Esq

In the words of Lain Morley QC a legal luminary, “all advocates are members of a Bar meaning, we have been called to the Bar, which of old was the wooden bar which separated the judges from the well of the court. From that location, close to the judges, directly in front of them, we are permitted to make representations on behalf of the public”.

All legal advocates are members of the Nigerian Bar properly called in accordance with the legal practitioners Act among other relevant laws of the land.  As advocates, we are presumed to be good bar men irrespective of gender differences. Thus, a good bar man owes a duty not only to the court he is appearing, but also to his client and members of the public in general. He is bound to comply with all relevant laws and especially, the rules of professional conduct meant for legal practitioners.

Over the centuries, there has grown a concept known as the BAR ETHOS. The ethos is what makes being an advocate a great and enviable profession. The ethos helps in regulating the activities of a bar man giving him an attitude fit for his calling and revered before members of the public and his client in particular. No doubt, the practice of law on its own is a business just like every other meaningful venture out there. A good bar man as an advocate must be paid. He is entitled to his wages. In fact, he is paid to talk on most occasions. However, the business of advocacy is not all about and shouldn’t be focused on money irrespective of the important roles money plays in the practice of law. Advocacy is more of serving the public in season and out of season. For this reason, a good bar man voices out, in the face of injustice either by a publication condemning the act and proffering solutions, instituting an action in court and seeking for either declarative reliefs or injunctive orders, honouring invitation for public presentations among others without the motive of making any gain out of it.

Being preoccupied with the case of his client, a good man put the interest of his client first and above his own interest. Guided by the applicable laws and rules of professional conduct to dismiss a client brief in special cases, if it profits the lawyer more to settle perhaps, because the lawyer has another case or trial tomorrow to prepare for but the client actually wants a fight, then, the interest of the client comes first. The advocate should be prepared to put up a fight and if on the other hand, it profits the advocate to fight but the client prefers settlement, the lawyer should be prepared to settle. Either way, the client is the king. Every advocate is never fighting to win as a person rather, he is fighting for his client to win. The battle is not his but his client using him as an instrument of warfare before the court. Every good bar man, must note this and do away with personal feelings and emotions.  A good bar man is never to put what pays him best before the interest of his client. No doubt, money is good and pleasurable. In fact, to maintain strictly the often-rigid rules of professional conduct, plenty money is needed. However, because the practice of advocacy is a serious business not meant for every man, any man who puts his hand into the profession must be prepared to be guided by the dictates and ethics of the profession. It is like the fellowship of Jesus Christ where followers must abandon their problems including relatives and carry their cross. Hence, a good bar man must resist the pressure from any one save for his client. That is, the only permitted pressure is the one from his client provided the pressure will not warrant abuse of due process. He must desist from how to make quick money and possibly own a house or a car or impress his side chic or family members who now calls him ‘the bar’ if only the client could be surreptitiously bent to his bank account balance as Lain Morley opined. He must always insist on putting his client first and always while at all times, showing due respect to the court. Are you guilty of this?

In Nigeria, advocates are respected and especially, before the members of the Nigerian police force among other security agencies. Nothing scares a typical Nigerian Police officer more than a petition written with a lawyer letter head and followed by the lawyer’s seal at the bottom. No one wants to lose his hard-earned job. A good bar man can make something out of nothing and within couple of days, you are on your way to compulsory leave or being sacked. For an ordinary lay man, a letter from a lawyer’s office without more, can cause malaria and stage 3 typhoid especially, when he has some misunderstanding with another who has caused that letter to be written. This respect, has been there for ages. This is because it is generally perceived that besides being all knowing, an advocate will always do the right thing. Hence, an advocate must at all time show respect to other advocates of the bar. He must be willing to render help to his fellow advocate without necessarily seeking for a pay in return. A good bar man must recognize the status of his colleague irrespective of his age at the bar. Respect as used here includes, paying his junior adequately for work done without minding if he was paid same amount during his early years of practice for whether we know it or not, every junior advocate also has bundles of needs to be solved through money. If not for anything, the young advocate has medical bills, rent bills, transportation bills, feeding bills and other bills to be paid.

Speaking straight, walking straight and being straight are qualities a good bar man and advocate must possess. His private life may be mixed, bad or even terrible but it must not appear in his practice as an advocate of the bar. The court at all times is honourable and only honourable men must appear before it. As members in one body, a good bar man must guide diligently and jealously the ethics of the profession. He must not carry himself in such a way that members of the public will generalize and treat other advocates like filthy rags worthy of no respect and value. In speech, dressing and character, he must be seen to be upright. Of course, the profession is highly demanding. He must be willing and ready to give all that the profession seeks without any reservation. In his professional charges, a good bar man must ensure that he charge appropriate fees without fear or favour. He must resist the urge to charge an unreasonable fee that is capable of bringing contempt to other advocates of the bar when they are confronted with similar briefs without prejudice to pro bono services.

In line with the rules of professional conduct, a good advocate seeks and protect the interest of his fellow advocates irrespective of whether he has personal knowledge of them. As such, where a client approaches him with a case partly handled by another advocate, he takes steps to inquire and know about the previous advocate and why he left or abandoned the case half way. He as a good advocate should not believe the stories of his would-be client against his fellow advocate he never saw or heard from. This is against the back drop of the cankerwormous attitude that most advocate now practice whereby a client brings a case partly handled by another lawyer who is not dead and the new lawyer proceed to take up the brief and even file processes in court without asking the way about of the other lawyer and whether he was appropriately discharged and his fees paid by the said would be client. This, the rules of professional conduct frowns at and for which disciplinary measures can lie against such advocate. Beside the legal aspect of such conduct, a good bar man should put himself in the position of the debriefed advocate and ask “what if I was the one who was debriefed and another advocate does same to me”? a good bar man must treat other advocates the way he would love to be treated.

In his relationship with the court, a good bar man gives his overall best and attention. Seeking the rare quality of irresistibility in his submission which makes him almost invisible thereby weeding parts for his case to solve itself, a good man is always on top of his game. He may not win all cases because he is not bound to as some cases are on their own naturally bad, he leaves however, an indelible impression of a great advocate both with the client and the court and in most case, unnoticed. Before appearing in any court, he takes time to study and work on his briefs and line of argument ensuring that they are error free. Unlike others who may jump from the club to the court rooms making inchoate submission without sound legal premise, a good bar man takes time to sleep over his case and brood on it over and over again searching for possible errors or defense that may likely come from his opponent. In some cases, he even asks questions about the judge he is appearing before to enable him have a grasp and knowledge of the court to know how to conduct his business where he is appearing for the first time. This is because no two judges are the same and knowing your judge is a great quality of an advocate who must succeed in the hallowed business of litigation as compared to other areas of law. An advocate must understand the systematic arrangements of courts and their procedures. He must ask questions aside reading books to know how to conduct his business before a court of another hierarchy from his colleagues who have once passed through that line of transaction. For instance, at the court of Appeal, a good bar must know that beyond announcing his appearance, he must be able to identify his briefs first before any other thing. His ability to identify his briefs shows his readiness to proceed with his appeal. It does not lie in the mouth of an advocate at the appellate court to stand up and say, subject to the convenience of my noble lords, we are ready to proceed even when he as an advocate cannot identify his briefs properly. From experience, failure to identify counsel brief before an appellate court can be annoying and irritating to the Justices of the court. It shows nothing other than the fact that counsel is not ready for the business of the day and in most cases, the court advise parties to pick a date and return which can be the next 7 months or more. As such, an advocate who is appearing for the first time must ask questions. Identification of briefs at the court of Appeal simply means stating the dates on the brief of counsel and the dates the said brief or briefs were or was filed. For instance, my noble Lords, the appellant brief of argument is dated the 23rd day of June 2020 and filed on the 12th August 2020 or as the case may be. Where it is a motion, the advocate must identify it first by stating the type of motion, the date and date it was filed. Just like the Justices of the Supreme court, sometimes, Justices of the court of Appeal may not bother or be interested with the dates in the appellant or respondent briefs or application, they may be only interested in the dates it was filed which is usually in red as written by the registrar or officers of the court. Where that is the case, a good bar man must take steps not to waste the time of the court by mentioning the dates in his briefs rather, he must limit himself to mentioning the date it was filed. For instance, appellant or respondent brief of argument filed on the 13th day of August 2021 without mentioning the other date when the brief was prepared. At the Supreme court, Justices of the court bothers themselves only with the date briefs or application was filed. A process may be dated 23rd march 2016 but filed on the 12th July 2021. It does not mean that the process had not seen the registry of the supreme court since 2016. The date which the court recognize is the date of filing that appears on the top or bottom of the process as given by the registry as such, an advocate before the apex court must refrain from mentioning the date he prepared the brief to mentioning the date as given by the registry of the court otherwise, such an advocate must be prepared to come under the hammer and annoyance of the court which can have a devastating effect especially, when the presiding Justice woke up from the wrong side of the bed for that day or a counsel in a previous case has by his conduct, irritated the court. It is better to be imagined than experienced. Thus, seeing that this practice is difference from the regular practice of the high court and other inferior court where processes are identified mostly based on the dates the processes were or was prepared, a good bar man must be circumspective, paying attention to details in court and asking necessary questions especially, where he is holding the brief of another advocate.

What about the court room drama? A good bar man is poised in his presentation. He speaks eloquently and maintain a steady stand. He does not approbate and reprobate same time thereby, blowing hot and cold knowing that the law is against such stand. Unnecessary adjournments are never in his diary of practice and hence, he fights against all sort of unnecessary adjournment from his opponent. While presenting his case, he looks at the judge to establish an eye contact as to maintain same equilibrium with the court and as such, he knows when the court is not writing and honourably direct the court to have him on record where necessary. He is not giving to playing with his cell phone while proceedings are on. With common sense and a little   touch of humour, he maintains a good relationship with his opponent knowing that clients will always come and go but the profession will remain. Having some good questioning techniques with an eloquent and captivating closing speech that has already been envisaged even before the closing day, he directs the mind of the court to the salient areas of his case and where need be, with the quality of persuasiveness, trying to be irresistible in final submission without losing the goal which is the pursuit for justice. This is the good bar man for you. ARE YOU ONE?

Stanley Maduabuchi Ofoegbu is a legal practitioner based in Abuja. Can be reached via whatsapp line 08068515340, email; o[email protected]