INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this
interview session is aimed at drawing from the wealth of experience and
knowledge of our ‘Elders’ at the Bar
Our inspiration is from the words of EUGENE C.BLACKARD:
‘’Never be afraid to ask for direction on how to practice law more
effectively. Everyone is afraid to look foolish but the practice of law is a
collaborative endeavor. You don’t get to practice law by yourself’’
AND CYNDEE TODGHAM CHERNIAK:
‘’Embrace the fact that in your first year
of practice that you are still learning. Law school does not teach you
everything that you need to know to practice law-far from it’’
ABOUT AUGUSTINE ALEGEH (SAN)
Augustine Oyarekhua
Alegeh, SAN,
hails from Ikabigbo, Etsako West Local Government Area, Edo State. He was born
to the family of Late DCP & Mrs. Matthew Alegeh (Rtd.) in Warri, Delta State.
He attended St. George’s Primary School, Falomo, Lagos, for his Primary
Education. In 1974 he commenced his secondary education at St. Paul’s Seminary,
Benin City .He obtained his West African School Certificate (‘O’ levels) from
Edo College in 1980 and proceeded to Federal Government College, Warri in
January, 1981 for his ‘A’ levels but completed only Lower Six before gaining
admission to the University. He gained admission to study law at the
prestigious University of Benin in 1981 and graduated with Second Class Lower
Division in 1985. He was called to the Bar on the 16th of October, 1986 after
obtaining Second class upper division from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos. At
the Law School, he won the Bola Ajibola Prize for Civil Procedure.
Between
1986 and 1989, he cut his legal teeth in the law firm of Sadoh & Co. (Legal
Practitioners). In March 1989 following the appointment of the former Principal
Partner of Sadoh & Co., as a Judge of The Bendel State High Court he became
the Managing Partner of The Firm, which then became known as Alegeh, Agun&
Co.
The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee
elevated him to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2007.
He is a lover of the games of cricket and
football. He is happily married to his lovely and amiable wife of 20 years and
childhood sweetheart – Mrs. Ferishat Alegeh and blessed with children.[1]
THE INTERVIEW
We had a
heart-felt discussion with the Learned Silk, who took us on an intellectual,
advisory and history Journey of a Young Lawyer.
We
started on an advisory boat where he took us through the island of success for
our Blog, the Learned Silk advised us to limit our Blog posts to intellectual
discussions, current judicial pronouncement in the country and we should help
in contributing to the success of the legal profession. The Learned silk shared
experiences of what he has seen other doing on various social media platform to
get more viewers, likes and comments and at the end it all vanity and an errant
nonsense.
We moved
into the Intellectual Boat where he took us through the Island of Knowledge and
a lot of issues;
ISSUE
1: SHOULD LAW BE A SECOND DEGREE?
This
issue has been the topic of a long time debate among scholars, law teachers and
Lawyers in Nigeria. The current administration of NBA earlier this year
inaugurated a 23-Man committee to consider it worthwhile. The agenda states
among others:
‘’Given the current size of the Legal
Profession, its exponential growth in recent years in relation to the needs of
the Nigerian economy, the committee will consider seeking admission to the law faculties
in Nigeria to possess a degree in another discipline as a condition for
admission’’
The
learned silk is of the opinion that for everything we want to do we should have
a reason for it, but we need to consider the cost of education in our country.
He shared from the plight of families that don’t have enough money to sponsor
their ward to higher institution; most families adopt the style of sending the
First Born to School who after graduating will sponsor his siblings.
The learned
silk further stated that the idea that law as a second degree will improve the
standard of legal education is not absolutely correct, he shared from his
experience of lawyers he has interviewed for job at his law firm with 2 or more
degrees but yet his unable to defend the degree compared to new wigs with a
single degree.
The learned
skill further stated that what should be done to create a good standard in our
legal education is for the Council of Legal Education to ensure a quota system
is adhered to strictly and reduce the influx of students being admitted to the
University faculties and the committee should monitor the educational system.
He further
states that the practice of Law Teachers combining Teaching and Practice of law
together is a problem to the Legal Education, because most lecturers will
rather focus more on a brief that will yield a lot of money rather than spend
more time in class teaching the student. The lecturers will consequently adopt
the system of teaching the student enormous topics within a week in other to
focus on briefs.
He
further stated that until we address the various issues with our legal
education system if we make it a 3rd degree we will still have a
falling standard of legal education.
He
suggested that we should have a qualifying exam before candidates are admitted
to the Law School. Law School should set the questions and admit only students
who pass the examination. He lamented on the influx of students admitted to the
law school with a poor educational background from the University and this
creates further problem at the Law School.
ISSUE
2: THE LAW SCHOOL GRADING SYSTEM
With a
stern look, the learned silk told us that he fought against it during his
tenure as the NBA President. He stated that during his time a GPA system was
adopted.
He
stated that he has being asking questions on why did they change the system? , they
need to give reasons for adopting this grading system which is unknown to any
Jurisdiction.
The Learned
silk lamented that the Deans of various Law Faculties don’t have a charts of
the success rate of their students at the Bar Final, which is the reason why
the grading system has not changed.
He
stated that we have just one Council of Legal Education, so why do we adopt a
different grading system at the University Level and another at the Law
School. He further stated that we have
subjected the student to a particular cycle which the members of the Council
did not go through while at the law school.
He
stated that when a student fail they will tell him that he didn’t read hard
because they have 29 First Class students, whereas you can have more than that
but they have created a system that has made it that way. Students should not
be graded on their weakness. He believes that he GPA system should be adopted.
ISSUE
3: THE POOR WELFARE OF YOUNG LAWYERS
The Learned
Silk smiled and informed us that he also complained about this while he was a
young lawyer. He took us through the History lane of when he was a Corp Member
after being called to Bar, his experience can be best described with the song
of ‘’Suffering and Smiling’’ but his main aim was to learn against all odds. He
informed of us of how he had the opportunity of veering into other fields a
path followed by some of his colleagues.
Who
could ever believe that the learned silk once ate on credit and had to pay
after being paid appearance fee for a suit? He told us he had to manage with
the little he was earning and was determined in learning and getting to the top
of his career.
Almost
31 years of practice of the Learned Silk, this issue still looms within the legal
profession, the Learned silk informed us of how he tried his best during his
tenure as the NBA President to create a minimum wage system for different
states based on the Standard of Living of each states but it was not adhered to
by Law Firms.
The Learned
silk told us that he won’t deny the fact that some Law Firms who have the capability
to pay more are not doing so. He stated that the major problem is with decline
in our resource and client Base making it difficult for Law Firms to combine
running of the Law Firm and paying Lawyers. He shared a personal experience of
a certain period he had difficulty in paying his lawyers due to low income from
the law firm, he had to pool resources from other investment.
However,
he believes that a benchmark should be set for all law firms in respect of
young lawyers. He further stated that a young lawyer needs to be innovative;
you can spot a problem and proffer solution to it. By doing this, you can add
value to your law firm then the law firm would have no other choice to
adequately compensate you in a bid not to lose you.
Learned
Silk Journey of Becoming a Lawyer
The
Learned Silk consequently took us through the historical account of his
educational background where he revealed to us that his choice of law came naturally
and has nothing to neither do with his family background nor influence from any
of his family members. He had interest
in Law which made it easier for him at the University Level and Law School.
He
applied for law when he wanted to write Jamb, he applied to the University of
Ife because there was no faculty of law in the Old Bendel. He was referred to one
Professor for assistance for the admission, on getting to his office he
presented his WAEC and Jamb result to him and the man was very pleased with the
great result, the Professor asked him what state he was from, Learned silk told
the professor he was from Bendel and the Professor threw his result at him and
told him that he couldn’t be granted admission because of his state of Origin.
He
didn’t gain the admission that year and decided to go for an A-Level Programme
and prepared for Jamb where he later score 327 over 400 and his name was
published as the Number 2. There was no argument he got the admission to study
Law at UNIBEN in 1981 September and he graduated in the year 1984.He proceeded
to the Law School and finished 1986 in October.
The
Learned silk informed us of how he was fond of reading about Senior Lawyers;
FRA Williams, Kehinde Sofolahan, GOK Ajayi through which he was able to understand
legal profession and learn how they were able to manage investment and also the
practice of law. These named legal luminaries were not born with Golden spoon
but they were able to get to the peak of their profession through sheer
hardwork and the grace of God.
Finally,
we asked him how he is able to manage family and Legal Practice.
The
Learned silk informed us that it impossible to manage due to our nature of
profession. The solution is to have an understanding family. Our system does
not gives us room to balance, he gave us example of our court system that makes
it compulsory for lawyers to be seated in court at 9’0Clock knowing fully well
that his matter may not be called till later in the afternoon, assuming the
Lawyer was informed to come at the particular time his matter will be called,
this may give him opportunity to drop his kids in school.
The
learned silk further stated that one must take it upon himself to create time
for the family by making extra effort of remembering important dates like birthdays,
graduation date, and if you have the chance during vacation spend time with
your family.
His of
the opinion that as a profession we need to work out the issue of sitting court
at 9’0Clock when matters won’t be called till later in the afternoon, this will
help us plan our time. He suggests that when the Judge is fixing date he should
also fix time on the motion paper.
CONCLUSION
The
Learned silk ended the interview with a word of advice to the young lawyers. He
stated that young lawyers need to join politics; our desires and policies can
only be enforced if we are part of the body that makes decision. He further
stated that a young lawyer should be able to spot a problem and proffer
solution to it. By doing this, you can add value to your law firm. We should
open our minds to the developing areas of law and gain knowledge in those
areas.
THE END
We at Group4 Hub
believes that Life is a gift that has been given to us, as a young lawyer your
life is in your hands to make the best out of it, dare to believe that you can
make it. New Wigs, through the ups and downs, we all will find a lesson to learn
that will make us a better person. Each experience will make us grow. Live for
today and enjoy every moment.
HAPPY
NEW YEAR
Very insightful piece. A must read for wigs in general, and new wigs in particular.
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