THE FUTURE OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

BEING TEXT OF PRESENTATION MADE ON 25TH AUGUST, 2015

AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION

P R O F E S S O R O L A N R E W A J U . A . FA G B O H U N P H . D

C H I K E I D I G B E D I S T I N G U I S H E D P R O F E S S O R O F L A W & D I R E C T O R O F R E S E A R C H

N I G E R I A N I N S T I T U T E O F A D V A N C E D L E G A L S T U D I E SU N I V E R S I T Y O F L A G O S C A M P U S

A K O K A , L A G O S , N I G E R I A

F A G B O H U N @ E L R I - N G . O R G

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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS• Strident criticisms/call for reform of legal education:

- Leading lights of the profession;- Judicial officers;- Consumers/clients;- Outside constituencies;

• They all cannot be wrong – there is a “disconnect” and/or “gap”, thus, the clamour and the drumbeat of change;

• Drivers of the call for reform:- Unease with competence of a number of new wigs;- Globalization has internationalized the dynamics of the legal market

(meaningful transactions… global production systems);- Concern with the disproportion of new wigs vis-à-vis recognised job opportunities.

• The backlash from new wigs… “what have you done for me lately?”

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UNDERSTANDING THE CRITICISMS /CALL FOR REFORM

• Criticism of the Langdellian method of Socratic teaching as lacking practical training;

• Not sufficient to equip new wigs to make valuable contributions/meet the demands of a globalized legal market;

• Its about both pedagogical format and content ???

My thesis: beyond reviewing the deficiencies of current pedagogical format and content, there is a need for effective regulation of the legal education institutions.

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FOR SURE… THE LANDSCAPE HAS CHANGED

• Increasing demands by clients for greater efficiency/precision in delivery of legal services;

• Increasing influence of technology on legal practice;

• Growth of alternatives to traditional litigation, and changes in court connected dispute resolution processes;

• Substantial unbundling of legal services [Decomposition: Litigation/Transactions];

• Increasing competition from non-lawyers;

• Globalizations of the law and legal practice… [complex legal work… greater competition]

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WHAT KNOWLEDGE BASE? WHAT SKILL SET?

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Synthetic

Knowledge

Collaborative

skill

“provide more-

for-less”

Ethics

“Integrity is all

you got…”

Communicati

on Skill In-depth

Specializati

on

Risk

Taking

Interactive

skill

Critical

thinking &

reasoning

Transcend

Geographical

Boundaries on

Best Practic

es

…Innovative, yet, affordable legal services

Confidence

& Passion

ACCEPTING THE BASICS• No law school can possibly provide a graduate with everything about being a

lawyer or surviving legal practice;- Not a chance!!! [… sprinboard/torch with which to find path]

• Legal profession is not necession-proof;

• 5,588 (Re-sit and Regular Students) sat for the 2015 Bar Examination, 1,805 failed… that’s only half the story;

• Serious crisis at the Primary and Secondary School levels- Last SSCE examination, 61% failed English and Mathematics;- Improvement on previous year when over 70% failed;

• Not a story to make you excited… product of several complex causes;

• Juxtapose with the “begging culture” and “abuse of discretion syndrome”

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BROAD GOALS OF NIGERIA LEGAL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

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Law Faculties Nigerian Law School

• Teaching of legal doctrine/analysis capable of providing basis for students to: - communicate substantive knowledge, - clarify legal problem into its

appropriate niche, and - know where to find the law (legal

research)

• Focus on procedural law; professional skills of communicating with client, negotiations; deepen problem solving skills; interviewing, counseling;

• Introduce them to the rubric of lawyering, leading to acting with responsibility for clients???

• Deepen the rubric of lawyering;- The soft skills of efficiency good

response time, client-friendly strategies???

• Identify values and dispositions consonant with the fundamental purpose of the legal profession???- Appearance, conduct etc ( in and

out of court)

• Play out those values and dispositions consonant with the fundamental purposes of the legal profession.- Appearance, Conduct etc (in

and out of court)

CURRENT FRAMEWORK OF DELIVERY

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Law Faculties Nigerian Law School

• Lecture and Tutorials. (Integration of theory with experiential learning).

• Problem based learning

• Reading materials ahead of time. • Case studies

• Moot court (Student Chambers). • Simulations (Moot Court)

• Well equipped legal research library.

• Well equipped legal research library.

• Public Lectures (by Distinguised Practitioners).

• Collaborative learning.

• Student organised Law Dinners. • Formal Law Dinners.

• Seminar presentations (more at the postgraduate level).

• Work integrated learning through placement or practicum.

TODAY’S NARRATIVE… LEARNING PROCESS DIMINISHED

• Recruitment – Admission process mismatch:- Incompetent Lecturers… Ill-equipped students…;

• Unfaithfulness to lecture contact hours;

• Tutorials are dead… [engine room of critical thinking, problem solving & interactive skills];

• Learning have failed to embrace technology [resistance to change];

e-Learning i-Tutorials (interactive, multi-media tools)

• Proliferation of Universities… dearth of qualified law trainers.

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VITAL DIMENSIONS OF SUCCESSFUL REFORMS• Standardized review of content from time to time:

- Infusion of ethics into University Curriculum from early stages.

- Emphasis is still on adversarial training to the neglect of emerging fields [ADR, non-adjudicatory transactional & facilitative dimensions]

- Insights on career path development [New Skills and Discipline];

• Embrace of technology in teaching innovations; Digital Library Solutions.

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Contract

adminis-

trator

Legal manage-

ment consul-tant

Legal Risk

Manager

Legal Project Manage

r

Legal Technolo

gist – Engineer

Legal Proce

ss Analy

st

Professional

Counseling

Negotiation and Conflict Resoluti

on

Law Firm

Manager

VITAL DIMENSIONS OF SUCCESSFUL REFORMS…

• Establishment of Governance/Regulatory Mechanism:- Mandate institutions to have implementable Internal Operational/Governance

Process Plan (that can be audited on regular basis);- Operational/Governance Process Plan must be clear on things like:

recruitment criteria; admission criteria; curriculum compliance; library facilities; faithfulness to approved pedagogical format etc;

- Annual Compliance Report by legal education institutions in a prescribed format;

- Regular Audit/Anonymous student feedback mechanism/Informal visitation.

• Mandatory continuing legal education for Faculty members/Practitioners in emerging fields;

• Create opportunities for affordable advanced studies in specialized areas [carve a niche…];

• Orientate younger colleagues on the importance of “Law Firm Pupillage” [deepen knowledge; structuring ;skills that brand].

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CONCLUSION• If the Universities complement the Law School as they should… our

legal education institutions will deliver on:

- Construction/application of knowledge that adds value;

- Desired social impact training (pro-bono/access to justice); and

• Younger colleagues do not despair… Nigeria is an emerging economy -

…you must be prepared to think innovatively outside the box in order to give the best legal services to clients; and amortise the opportunities that will continue to unfold;

…Law Office/Legal services of the future : death of solo practice; Collaboration is the name of the game.

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