How SANship criteria sieves out senior lawyers

Many senior lawyers fail to make the criteria for appointment
into the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) due to several
factors,  findings have shown.

Many lawyers are sieved out through the evaluation scrutiny by
the various sub-committees, interviews sessions, recommendation
letters of judges, and the professional competence required to
attain the SAN, which is an equivalent of the Queens Counsel (QC)
in the United Kingdom.

Ranked lawyers enjoy certain privileges like sitting in the
front row in court and to have their cases called first. Besides,
it has been claimed that the rank attracts the confidence of both
political and corporate clientele with more lucrative briefs.

It is not as easy as it seemed when F.R.A. Williams and Dr Nabo
Graham Douglas wore the garb as the only two selected as SANs on
April 3, 1975. There was the unequalled feat of Lateef Fagbemi, who
attained the rank at exactly 10 years on the Bar in 1996. Fiery
Lagos lawyer, late Gani Fawehnmi made the rank after several
attempts, as he was eventually listed by popular demand.

For many observers of the legal profession, it was a huge relief
when the name of human rights and anti-corruption lawyer, Festus
Keyamo, and before him Mike Ozekhome and Femi Falana finally
appeared on the 2009 and 2012 lists of SANs after several
attempts.

The expectation was that having spent over two decades in the
defence of the rights of the downtrodden, the lawyers would be
easily bestowed with the prestigious rank. But after applying for
the position on several occasions without success, the popular
sentiment was that the rank is deliberately made difficult for some
lawyers to attain. Some analysts point to a deliberate scapegoating
of the more vocal and activist lawyers by denying them the much
coveted rank.

This perception is deepened by the fact that many more senior
lawyers have had to sweat through their brows to get conferred with
the SAN rank. For instance, late Dr Olu Onagoruwa did not make the
SAN rank despite becoming the Attorney General of the Federation in
1996 under the General Sani Abacha regime. The tradition has been
that a person so appointed automatically makes the next batch.

The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) chaired by
the Chief Justice of Nigeria has the mandate to implement the
provisions of the Legal Practitioners’ Act. The 2016 Federal
Government Official Gazette for appointment of SANs listed the
criteria for becoming SAN.

Section 16 (2) of the Act stipulates integrity- 20 percent;
opinion of judges and the strength of references received by
candidates-20 percent; general knowledge of law-25 percent;
contribution to the development of law-10 percent; leadership
qualities in the profession-10 percent; and qualities of law
office/library-15 percent.

Sub-section 2 further provides that: “Each member of the Legal
Practitioners’ Privileges Committee shall receive copies of
application forms, copies of references, and a list of particulars
of reported cases or copies of unreported judgments and reports of
chambers inspection in respect of all candidates at least one week
before the final selection interview date.”

Section 17 of the Act provides varied criteria for the
candidates to be assessed on. The candidate must have been called
to Bar for at least 10 years, consultation may be held with the
chief judge of the high court where the candidate practices and the
local branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). The candidate
must be of good character and must have successfully concluded a
number of cases, and must present income tax for a period of three
years.

According to the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Uwani
Mustapha, the 2017 list of SANs, which successful candidates will
be inaugurated in September, a total of 156 candidates applied, out
of which 153 submitted the requirements. Of this 72 candidates were
shortlisted for oral interview out of which 32 succeeded. Among the
list are four lawyers from the academia and four women.

A newly elevated SAN, who would not want to be named, attributed
the rejection of some lawyers to their attitude to the profession.
Citing section 18 (2) of the Act, he said some lawyers exhibit
unacceptable behaviours like  mismanagement of clients’ funds,
self-seeking, praise or advertisement, while neglecting to develop
their knowledge of the law.

“Many of them were not qualified based on the criteria. They
have not made the required score for chambers inspection, knowledge
of law, opinion of other judges and lawyers and the quality of
cases you have handled. The process is based on objective criteria,
not sentiments,” he said.

But an Abuja-based lawyer, who pleaded not to be named,
criticized the process for SAN award, and called for its
liberalization or scrapping.

“I must say I am not quite satisfied with the criteria for the
award of that honour. To me the criteria are oppressive, it is a
common fact that states that have many qualified people would,
candidate would resort lobbying. I would have expected that there
should be a qualifying examination like that of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN),” he said.

Legal luminary, Afe Babalola (SAN) submitted “all persons who
merit the rank in any given year should be conferred with it. The
sole test, as is now the position in England should be excellence
in advocacy. This way there will be no backlog of applicants.”

For his part, Chukwu Machukwu-Ume (SAN) said it is not possible
for many lawyers who have applied for SAN in a year to all make the
list.

Culled: dailytrust.

Many senior lawyers fail to make the criteria for appointment
into the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) due to several
factors,  findings have shown.

Many lawyers are sieved out through the evaluation scrutiny by
the various sub-committees, interviews sessions, recommendation
letters of judges, and the professional competence required to
attain the SAN, which is an equivalent of the Queens Counsel (QC)
in the United Kingdom.

Ranked lawyers enjoy certain privileges like sitting in the
front row in court and to have their cases called first. Besides,
it has been claimed that the rank attracts the confidence of both
political and corporate clientele with more lucrative briefs.

It is not as easy as it seemed when F.R.A. Williams and Dr Nabo
Graham Douglas wore the garb as the only two selected as SANs on
April 3, 1975. There was the unequalled feat of Lateef Fagbemi, who
attained the rank at exactly 10 years on the Bar in 1996. Fiery
Lagos lawyer, late Gani Fawehnmi made the rank after several
attempts, as he was eventually listed by popular demand.

For many observers of the legal profession, it was a huge relief
when the name of human rights and anti-corruption lawyer, Festus
Keyamo, and before him Mike Ozekhome and Femi Falana finally
appeared on the 2009 and 2012 lists of SANs after several
attempts.

The expectation was that having spent over two decades in the
defence of the rights of the downtrodden, the lawyers would be
easily bestowed with the prestigious rank. But after applying for
the position on several occasions without success, the popular
sentiment was that the rank is deliberately made difficult for some
lawyers to attain. Some analysts point to a deliberate scapegoating
of the more vocal and activist lawyers by denying them the much
coveted rank.

This perception is deepened by the fact that many more senior
lawyers have had to sweat through their brows to get conferred with
the SAN rank. For instance, late Dr Olu Onagoruwa did not make the
SAN rank despite becoming the Attorney General of the Federation in
1996 under the General Sani Abacha regime. The tradition has been
that a person so appointed automatically makes the next batch.

The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) chaired by
the Chief Justice of Nigeria has the mandate to implement the
provisions of the Legal Practitioners’ Act. The 2016 Federal
Government Official Gazette for appointment of SANs listed the
criteria for becoming SAN.

Section 16 (2) of the Act stipulates integrity- 20 percent;
opinion of judges and the strength of references received by
candidates-20 percent; general knowledge of law-25 percent;
contribution to the development of law-10 percent; leadership
qualities in the profession-10 percent; and qualities of law
office/library-15 percent.

Sub-section 2 further provides that: “Each member of the Legal
Practitioners’ Privileges Committee shall receive copies of
application forms, copies of references, and a list of particulars
of reported cases or copies of unreported judgments and reports of
chambers inspection in respect of all candidates at least one week
before the final selection interview date.”

Section 17 of the Act provides varied criteria for the
candidates to be assessed on. The candidate must have been called
to Bar for at least 10 years, consultation may be held with the
chief judge of the high court where the candidate practices and the
local branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). The candidate
must be of good character and must have successfully concluded a
number of cases, and must present income tax for a period of three
years.

According to the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Uwani
Mustapha, the 2017 list of SANs, which successful candidates will
be inaugurated in September, a total of 156 candidates applied, out
of which 153 submitted the requirements. Of this 72 candidates were
shortlisted for oral interview out of which 32 succeeded. Among the
list are four lawyers from the academia and four women.

A newly elevated SAN, who would not want to be named, attributed
the rejection of some lawyers to their attitude to the profession.
Citing section 18 (2) of the Act, he said some lawyers exhibit
unacceptable behaviours like  mismanagement of clients’ funds,
self-seeking, praise or advertisement, while neglecting to develop
their knowledge of the law.

“Many of them were not qualified based on the criteria. They
have not made the required score for chambers inspection, knowledge
of law, opinion of other judges and lawyers and the quality of
cases you have handled. The process is based on objective criteria,
not sentiments,” he said.

But an Abuja-based lawyer, who pleaded not to be named,
criticized the process for SAN award, and called for its
liberalization or scrapping.

“I must say I am not quite satisfied with the criteria for the
award of that honour. To me the criteria are oppressive, it is a
common fact that states that have many qualified people would,
candidate would resort lobbying. I would have expected that there
should be a qualifying examination like that of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN),” he said.

Legal luminary, Afe Babalola (SAN) submitted “all persons who
merit the rank in any given year should be conferred with it. The
sole test, as is now the position in England should be excellence
in advocacy. This way there will be no backlog of applicants.”

For his part, Chukwu Machukwu-Ume (SAN) said it is not possible
for many lawyers who have applied for SAN in a year to all make the
list.

Culled: dailytrust.