By Roland Uwakwe, Esq.

It is no longer news that all the courts in Nigeria are closed. The closure of these courts has definitely lowered the moral of litigation lawyers who depend mainly on appearance fees and the money paid by client for their representation in court.

We are living in a changed and changing world system. The traditional legal practices are giving ways for emerging ones, it is therefore pertinent that, lawyers should adapt to modern realities. In any case, litigation is becoming old fashion, modern thinking focuses on ADR. Lawyers across the globe are now having bias for litigation because of the zero sum game approach. Therefore, I will attempt to draw our attention to the fields we can further deepen on as 21 century lawyers.

Digital Media and Internet Lawyer

Internet use is prevalent across the globe. And we have heard of a lot of offenses done on social media platforms. These types of lawyers deal with situations involving legal issues concerning our use of the internet and technology. They deal with crimes related to website terms and conditions, copyright laws, privacy issues, and pirating music and movies.

Entertainment Lawyer

An entertainment lawyer deals with all kinds of entertainment issues that are related to entertainment contracts. They manage contracts, draft and review licensing agreements, and deal with contracts that have to do with royalties and other aspects of entertainment.

Real estate lawyers’

Real estate lawyers’ deal with legal issues related to real property. This includes sales, purchases, leases, title disputes, landlord-tenant issues, environmental compliance, and foreclosures.

Though a real estate attorney may spend some time in court (or contract his colleague in litigation to handle matters in court), albeit, most real estate lawyers primarily do transactional work (e.g., negotiating and drafting various documents that facilitate the business of real estate).

Tax law

Tax law is a field of law that relates to the assessment and payment of taxes. Tax lawyers often identify ways to impact the tax burden on an entity or individual.

Intellectual property law

Intellectual property law deals with the legal rights related to creative works and inventions. Intellectual property law includes 3 subcategories:

Copyright law governs literary and artistic works—including books, music, and movies.
Trademark law governs brand names and logos.
Patent law governs inventions and discoveries.
Patent lawyers generally have a background in science or technology

Immigration law
Immigration law relates generally to the attainment of citizenship and temporary or permanent relocation of individuals from one country to another. Immigration attorneys may work with government agencies, non-profit organizations, or private immigration law firms.

Health law
Health law is a rapidly changing and steadily growing field. Law firms with health law practice fields provide legal services to hospitals, health insurance companies, nursing homes, physician practices, medical device manufacturers, and others. If you’re detail oriented, inquisitive, and enjoy change, health law might be the field for you.

Business or corporate law
Business law (sometimes called “commercial” or “corporate” law) is a broad term used to describe lawyers who work on issues that impact businesses. Often, this includes the strategic creation of a new entity,(incorporation of companies ) and the handling of subsequent issues impacting that entity(post incorporation)

Most young lawyers get their initial briefs from the Corporate Affairs Commission, even though the management of the CAC is doing everything to take lawyers away from its activities. Nonetheless, the current RG will never succeed in that mission because it is a global practice that we inherited as a country.

Family Lawyer

This type of lawyer handles legal issues revolving around the family. They handle things like a prenuptial agreement, divorce, custody battles and other issues surrounding marriage and children.

Security and Finance Lawyer

These kinds of lawyers operate only in a specific sector of law. They usually deal with issues related to individuals and banks issuing money, or to companies that are selling stocks.

Mergers & Acquisitions Lawyer (M&A)

Mergers and acquisition (M&A) lawyers deal with the buying and selling of companies. The buying and selling of major companies can be a very long and complex process which usually involves a team of lawyers. M&A lawyers tend to be very well-versed in finance and securities laws, as well as tax law.

Estate Planning Lawyer

Estate planning lawyers make sure your family dealings are all in order if/when something goes wrong. Their tasks range from creating trusts for a child’s college fund to drafting a will so your assets get distributed appropriately to the members of your family when you die. However, there are instances where people do not have a will and their assets have to go through Probate (court that decides what happens to your assets after death if you don’t have a will). In these instances, there is a subset of family lawyers, called Probate Lawyers, who argue where and how those assets are distributed.

Conclusion

The Nigerian Bar Association must begin to recognize specializations in law. The award of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria to litigation lawyers and few academics must be de-centralized. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria is not an expert in every aspect of law, therefore we must come up with new recognitions base on different fields of practice, for instance, if someone is good at immigration law, he should be awarded a privilege on that area, so that when clients are looking for experts in such fields, he becomes a ready hand. This will further encourage lawyers to diversify.

Written By Roland Uwakwe, Esq.