Using Lawyers To Serve Processes Causes Stir

By Adelanwa Bamgboye

The issue of whether or not lawyers should be engaged as process
servers by the Lagos State Judiciary over the weekend divided legal
practitioners nationwide.

While some lawyers see it as a smart initiative others said it
was a very big insult to lawyers, and therefore demanded that the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) takes a position on it.

Lagos based lawyer Samuel Adekola said the NBA should take a
position on the issue before lawyers were relegated to the status
of messengers.

Chairman NBA, Ikorodu branch, Bayo Akinlade, threw more light on
the issue and the reasoning behind the state judiciary’s position.
According to him, the decision was reached in the midst of the
several complaints about bailiffs and corruption in the Lagos State
judiciary.

“Now we have a situation where our own colleagues can float a
department in their respective law firms approved by the CJ to
serve all processes thereby giving me the choice to use the court
sheriff or my own certified colleagues to serve processes,” he
said.

Another lawyer, Raymond Adekunle Olaiya Akinsemonye, said there
is nothing special in serving court processes that a lawyer needed
to be employed.

For his part, Ebun Adegboruwa said “let’s not misunderstand the
intendment of the policy on Process Servers please. It is actually
meant to curb the excesses of the court bailiffs and help lawyers
and litigants overcome the bureaucracy and delays often attributed
to that difficult area of legal practice. I think the idea should
be encouraged and commended.

“I have myself directed that our office should apply to be
listed as process servers, so we can serve originating processes
and hearing notices,” he added.

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