Some lawyers in Kaduna State on Monday called for a reform of legal education and training to be in line with emerging trends.
This, they said would groom practice-ready lawyers who could contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s economic rebirth.
Speaking with our correspondent, the lawyers said universities and the Nigerian Law School needed to embrace rapid changes by developing tailored courses that prepared law students for modern realities.
They said emerging trends included market awareness and entrepreneurship skills needed to move beyond traditional practice to become leaders in contemporary and economically important areas.
A lawyer, Moses Lawson, said a 21st century lawyer needed to have a sharp understanding of the legal market and to integrate business knowledge and technology into law practice.
Lawson said the educational sector has a direct bearing on the social, economic, political and scientific development of a nation.
He noted that there had been increased anxieties about the deteriorating state of Nigeria’s educational system which needed a general reform.
“The growing concerns stem from the quality of our university graduates, which has become less than satisfactory and law graduates are no exception,’’ he said.
He added that the current situation where lawyers were underpaid, undervalued, and underemployed would be a thing of the past with the needed reforms.
Lawson also called on government to reform legal education because it would benefit law students and also make legal education more competitive in attracting applicants.
Another lawyer, Michael Peace, said there was a growing demand for reforms, not only in the training of lawyers, but also in the entire education sector.
He said the declining professional skills of lawyers had taken an alarming turn in the last decade.
“The result is that clients most often did not get value for money paid for legal services and society did not also feel the much-needed impact of lawyers,’’ he said.
He stated that the modern lawyers must be relevant to the society and so should be concerned not only about representing clients and making money, but also be concerned about how they could resolve disputes peacefully.
Peace added that the training of lawyers should focus on achieving public good and with proper training the country could have lawyers who focus on litigations as well as service delivery to their communities.
He said training of lawyers should also focus on areas such as cyber security, Artificial Intelligence law, space and aviation law, healthcare law, food and agricultural law, decarbonisation and carbon finance law among others.
“The introduction of clinical legal education in law faculties will change the attitude of lawyers who want to only study law for influence and not for commitment to the society,’’ he said.
According to him, clinical legal learning helps students to identify, research and apply knowledge.
It also establishes an opportunity for law students to gain important practical experience while enabling them to offer valuable service to their local community.
Another lawyer, Mohammed Lawal, said the practice of law had become globalised and that new issues were emerging that posed challenges to the 21st century Lawyer.
Lawal said the 21st century lawyer must not be estranged from his community and must be prepared to undertake public service and foster professionalism.
According to him, law students need to be exposed early to fundamental questions about what it means to be in a profession; what obligations flow from that status and how a lawyer’s personal values relate to his or her professional obligations.
He stated that the skills of the modern lawyer could be developed at the formative stage and clinical legal education would enable the lawyer to acquire the requisite skills early in life to face the challenges of the future.
“Another challenge is how to overcome the traditional methods of teaching and this will involve retraining of our teachers or employing non-academic professionals,’’ he said.
Lawal called for the retaining of non-academic professionals who have special and consummate skills to expose students to the ‘practical’ of public interest lawyering in legal education.
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