The Immediate past Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law and Co-Chairman 2018 NBA Technical Committee on Conference Planning, Olumide Akpata has said that lawyers are the backbone of the economy and that the Nigerian legal system which is founded on received English law (Common law) is a system of laws designed to maximize the wealth of society – the economy.
He also said that lawyers are the crucial link that bridge the gap between the legislative intention, the judicial interpretation, and the market reality.

Akpata made this statement Thursday, during the NBA Port Harcourt Monthly Meeting.

Speaking on the topic “NIGERIA—THE LARGEST ECONOMY IN AFRICA: WHERE DO THE LAWYERS FIT IN?” Akpata said that lawyers fit nicely into every cell in every sector of Nigeria’s economy; and in those cells, they are the mitochondrion.

“Our colleagues specializing in general contract and property law are performing key functions in the economy as they are concerned with creating and defining property rights or rights to the shared or exclusive use of valuable property, and facilitating the voluntary transfer of property rights into the hands of those who value them the most.

“In the same vein, our colleagues specializing in general torts law are also serving the economy by protecting personal and property rights.

“Our colleagues specializing in criminal law are also extremely important for the preservation and development of our economy.

Accentuating the importance of our colleagues carrying on in the critical function of criminal prosecution and criminal defence. Thus, from an economic perspective, criminal law is essentially a more punitive backup to tort law.

“Our colleagues specializing in constitutional and administrative law may also feel that their roles within the legal system are tangentially related to wealth maximization and the development of the economy. That is also the wrong view.

The law and politics of revenue allocation, election cycles, court system, national budgeting, fundamental rights and the basic principles that should undergird state policy (to mention a few) are largely regulated by the Constitution. These are issues that impact directly on our economic wellbeing as a country.

“The public service and all regulatory offices fall within the purview of our colleagues practicing administrative law, whether as legal officers in government departments or in the private sector. Virtually all businesses done in Nigeria and all taxes paid are conducted and paid through regulatory offices.

“It is therefore easy to articulate the crucial roles our colleagues in that realm should play or should be playing,” Akpata said.

In iterating that economy and finance are actually legally constructed and do not operate outside the law, he further said that Financial assets are contracts, the value of which depends largely on their legal vindication.

“Whether a financial asset will or will not be vindicated is a function of legal rules and their interpretation by courts and regulators. The same holds true for the economy and every sector within it since the economy is essentially the aggregation of the financial and other assets within the country.

“This means that our duty to serve and protect the legal system imposes an obligation on us to serve and protect the economy. The key roles we play in facilitating knowledge exchange, the interpretation of laws, and law reform also help in reducing the regulatory risks associated with doing business in Nigeria and encourages the international flow of investment capital to Nigeria.

“Our colleagues in academia play the most important role because besides the fact that their research facilitates law reform, they dedicate themselves to the training of those who would perform these key functions and serve the economy tomorrow and in the future.

He also expressed his displeasure on how both old and future lawyers have failed to change with the market.

“Sadly; we, who are supposed to be servicing the economy and all sectors of it, still rely very heavily on the structure of legal practice, the skills set, and training methodologies established under and designed for the slowly fading mono-product structure of our economy.

” We are not dynamic. We are largely still stuck in the 90s. Most lawyers today are not fit for purpose and the more worrisome issue is that even those who are undergoing training to become lawyers may not also be fit for purpose if nothing is done to correct the trend.

“Nigeria depends, a lot, on international private capital in the form of foreign direct investment. The providers of this capital do not trust Nigerian lawyers. Typically, they engage English lawyers and only use Nigerian lawyers on specific questions on Nigerian law.

“Increasingly, we see that many indigenous investors are also losing faith in Nigerian lawyers. They engage foreign lawyers to advise on the technical parts of their transactions and only resort to Nigerian lawyers on specific questions of Nigerian law.

“Ideally, when the government pursues a policy that encourages development in a specific sector of the economy, that policy should also include modalities for the training of lawyers to service the legal needs of that sector. The government has failed to designed such all-encompassing policies.

He concluded by saying that the NBA is an extremely influential organization and it must rise to the occasion.

“It must ensure that the economy is serviced by lawyers who are reasonably fit for purpose. If the government fails to drive the policy on nuanced legal education, the NBA must design and drive that policy.

“The NBA must ensure that the training methodologies at the universities and the law school are designed to produce lawyers who understand the nuances of the current and emerging market for legal services.

“The NBA must ensure that there are credible continuing legal education programmes for existing lawyers to support the development of the skills required to provide nuanced legal services,” he said.