by Adeola Adeniyi
The Legal Profession is a noble one and noble members of the bar do not address or relate with one another as do the unlearned.
The historical meaning of the word professional presupposes an individual whose philosophy and habits have been conditioned by a professor. Most professionals are subjected to strict codes of conduct enshrining rigorous ethical and moral obligations. Professional standards of practice and ethics for a particular field or area of practice are typically agreed upon by a body or committee established for that purpose, and maintained through widely recognized professional associations.
These have been contributory factors in raising the expectation of clients and the world at large on the level of reliance to be placed on the work of professionals.
Professionals are generally specially skilled in specific areas of practice and are formally trained by a constituted body for that purpose. Over the years, professional jobs have been seen as the enviable jobs and parents always had the unflinching desire to have their names attached to the profession of their children. I do not intend to traverse all the professional lines there are, lets deal with those that call themselves “Learned”.
In Oketade v. Adewumi (2010) 8 NWLR (1195) 74 the Supreme Court defined a Legal Practitioner as follows:
“By virtue of Sections 2(1) and 24 of the Legal Practitioners Act a person is entitled to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor if, and only if, his name is on the roll. And “legal practitioner” means a person entitled in accordance with the provisions of the Act to practice as a Barrister or as a Barrister and Solicitor, either generally or for the purposes of any particular office or proceedings…”
One can safely conclude that a Legal Practitioner in Nigeria practices as both Barrister and Solicitor, and must have his name on the Supreme Court’s register. A Legal Practitioner as a professional is bound by the Rules of Professional Conduct and the profession is governed by the provisions of the Legal Practitioners’ Act.
A Legal Practitioner had a threefold duty – duty to the Court, duty to his Client and duty to his Colleagues. The summary of his duty to the Court is buttressed on the popular dictum that a Legal Practitioner is a Minister in the temple of justice, the Court being the hallowed temple. Legal Practitioners are expected to treat the Court with much respect, courtesy and sanctity, any disrespect and discourtesy extended to the Court is treated as sacrilege and is punishable as contempt both in face and out of the Court.
The Legal Practitioners’ duty to his Colleague is founded on the doctrine of brotherhood and “do unto others as you will like them to do unto you”. The Legal Profession is a noble one and noble members of the bar do not address or relate with one another as do the unlearned.
On the third fold, the duty of the Legal Practitioner to his client is tripartite, the fiduciary duty, the duty of care and the duty of confidentiality.
Fiduciary is coined from the Latin word fiducia which means ‘trust ‘. It best describes a person who has the power and obligation to act for another with absolute trust, good faith and honesty.This imposes on a Legal Practitioner to act with utmost honesty and fairness to his client. The following are examples of fiduciary duties owed by a Legal Practitioner to his Client: – Dedication and devotion to the cause of the client; Fair dealing with client’s property; Representing a client within the bounds of the law; Declaring any possible conflict of interest; Fair agreement with Client; Disclosure when dealing with third parties: accepting gifts, compensation, commissions etc from third parties.
The classical case of Donoghue v. Stevenson established the principle of duty of care and how that duty ought to be exercised in dealing with one’s neighbor. Lord Atkin went further in that case to define who one’s neighbour is. The Donoghue’s case has become a landmark for subsequent cases, and one of the most significant cases in recent time is the Hedley Bryne’s case where the principle of duty of care was extended beyond the confines of parties privy to a contract. The possibility of third parties claiming damages for reliance on the works or opinion of professionals was also explored. The standard of care expected from a Legal Practitioner is a fair, reasonable and competent degree of skill expected from any reasonable Legal Practitioner.
A Legal Practitioner is not expected to amongst other things; handle a legal matter which he knows or ought to know that he is not competent to handle without associating with him a Lawyer who is competent to handle it, unless the client objects;handle a legal matter without adequate preparation;Neglect a legal matter entrusted to him; orAttempt to exonerate himself from or limit his ability to his client for his personal malpractice or professional misconduct.
Rule 19 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners provides that all oral and written communications made by a client to his lawyer in the normal course of professional employment are privileged. Therefore, a Legal Practitioner is expected to treat the information and communication between himself and his client with the highest degree of confidence. A Legal Practitioner should ensure not to: reveal confidence or secrets given to him by his client, use confidence or secrets of his client to his client’s disadvantage or use confidence or secrets of his client to his personal or third party’s advantage without the consent of his client.
Confidences or secrets of his client may however be revealed – if the client consents, when permitted by Law, when the client intends to commit crime or when the Legal Practitioner deems it necessary to collect his fees or to defend himself against allegations of wrongful conduct.
It has been established that a legal practitioner is bound to exercise a reasonable degree of care, skill, knowledge and judgment in all legal business he undertakes, although he is not expected to know all the Law. A breach of these duties may make the Legal Practitioner liable for negligence or misconduct and incur liabilities which effect could range from a reprimand, payment of damages or fines, or an outright disbar from the Legal practice by requisite authorities.
It is important that the expectation gap of Clients and general users of Legal services be bridged, and that Clients understand that their Legal representatives can be made answerable for negligently handling their assignments and may be disbarred for gross misconduct. However, a Client who will levy allegations of negligence on his Legal Practitioner must be ready to prove his case on the merit, and would not mind to have his secrets in the open air.
Conclusively, understand that like the biblical Jesus, your Legal representative are your advocates, who consistently plead your case by burying their heads, digging out and scheming out the best ways to protect your interests. However, unlike the said Jesus, they are not super humans or omni-scient in all respect.
To make your world a better one, or if you intend to climb the ladder of success, you must at least have a Lawyer friend whose emergency line you can always reach.
Disclaimer: This article does not constitute a legal opinion, it is the sole idea of the writer and the writer will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the write up which occasions a liability. This article is a summary of the rules and laws governing legal practice in Nigeria and not in any way comprehensive.
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Adeola Adeniyi is a graduate of the University of Ilorin and the Nigerian Law School, Lagos. A Chartered Accountant, Adeola is an Associate in of the Nigeria’s Largest full service Law firms where he specializes in Complex commercial transactions, Advisory services and Litigation.
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.
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