Friday, 10 July 2015

SANship. To be or not to be?


Come this new legal year some Legal Practitioners would be elevated to the inner bar as SAN. These set of successful lawyers will wear the silk and enjoy the privileges that goes with the rank.
In recent years the number of successful applicants have increased. As the number of applicants swelled so are the controversy and disgust that trails the award each time the name of successful applicants are made known to the Public.
The complaints are rooted in protest over the caliber of persons elevated.
A SAN whether coming from Private Practice, Public practice for those in Ministry of Justice and Government Agencies and The Academia is seen as a thorough bred counsel whose skills is above that of his peers. He is meant to be sound in law and must be a person of integrity. He is in the public eye seen as a man of immense importance and status. Whenever he lends his imprimatur to any task, you are not supposed to be in doubt that this is a Learned SAN. He is meant to be excellence personified!
Is this what is obtainable today? I answer with regrets in the negative. These days it has become a cabal thing, the "man know man", you see Lawyers whose practice credentials are suspect and bereft of integrity taking silks. To some it is just a title to show off. A SAN is meant to take his practice to the next level and remain in practice for the younger lawyers to tap from his wisdom. However it is no longer case most after being elevated save for few cases of ailment and old age, sink into oblivion. They do not go to court again nor mentor any other advocate! His Silk status becomes a chieftaincy title for him.
Of recent I am no longer excited with the SANship awards. I believe a Lawyer with skills has it whether elevated or not, clients root for competent advocates regardless of your title. They opt for lawyers who can deliver there are lawyers who are not SAN but because of their skill which is appreciated do more complicated cases than some Silks.
So does this SANship matter? Is it really discriminatory? Should it be scrapped? Do clients place importance on title as opposed to skill to brief a lawyer? How best is it to make the silk status revered as it used to be?
Let's brainstorm!
-Jose Mourinho Ifeanyi Agwuncha

Monday, 22 June 2015

The Nigerian university educational system and its problems and possible solutions.

This Hangout will be based on the personal views of participants on what they consider to be the problem with the Nigerian educational system.
The aim of this hangout is totally based on creating public awareness on the aforementioned issue and create a platform where people express themselves and share ideas with regards to the issue in question.
After highlighting a particular defect, it is required that the individual proffers a probable solution to that problem with logical and practical guides towards attaining that.
Event page YouTube page 

Tuesday, 2 June 2015

3rd Edition of Sir B.E.I. Nwofor (SAN) Inter-Universities Moot Court Competion

The Faculty of law, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, well represented by counsel in the picture attached herein participated in the 3rd edition of the Sir B.E.I NWOFOR INTER-UNIVERSITIES MOOT COURT COMPETITION held at
Nnamdi Azikiwe university, Awka, Anambra state.
We participated in the preliminary rounds in which we emerged first by beating Ebonyi State University after which we proceeded to the finals together alongside UNIZIK and UNIBEN. At the finals, we demonstrated our oratorical prowess and earned the praise of the sponsor of the competition Sir BEI NWOFOR. He eulogised us for the advocacy skills and great knowledge of the law as demonstrated by our counsel.
Unfortunately or fortunately, we emerged 3rd in the finals with UNIBEN emerging 1st and UNIZIK, 2nd.
At this juncture, we wish to offer our profound thanks to the faculty of law, UNIZIK for their warm hospitality and great treatment we received from them in this competition. God willing, we are certainly going to be back for the competition next year. I tell you, if you ask anyone who witnessed the event, they will tell you "ESUT WAS HERE!"
Kene Nnadi,
Faculty of Law, ESUT