Description
ABSTRACT
Protectionism in Legal Services, Treaty Obligations, and the Future of the Legal Profession in Nigeria
Professor Bankole Sodipo*
The article reviews the preservation of legal services for Nigerian qualified legal practitioners in the light of Nigeria’s obligations under the World Trade Organisation’s General Agreement on Trade in Services, GATS, and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA which require liberalisation of trade in services. The article notes the points for and against protectionism in legal services and explores the attitude of other jurisdictions to protectionism in the face of treaty obligations. The author recommends following the Indian position which restricts practice of law for foreign lawyers to ‘matters pertaining to foreign laws on a temporary ‘fly in, fly out basis’, and exhorts the Nigerian Bar Association to prepare Nigerian lawyers for the onslaught of foreign qualified lawyers including leading the charge in improvements in reading and research attitudes, and discouraging exploitative practices by local lawyers.
Keywords: Legal Services, Nigerian Qualified Lawyers, Treaty Obligations, Preservation.
INTRODUCTION
The legal profession in Nigeria is over one hundred years old.1 Several services have been exclusively preserved for lawyers. This paper reviews the preservation of legal services for Nigerian qualified legal practitioners in the light of Nigeria’s obligations under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) General Agreement on Services (GATS).
* Ph.D (London) BL. Professor (and former Dean of Law), Babcock University, Partner, G.O. Sodipo & Co (Barristers, Solicitors & Arbitrators), Visiting Scholar, Queen Mary University of London, Visiting Research Fellow, British Institute of International & Comparative Law. This is a modified version of a paper initially delivered with the title “Future-fit Legal and Regulatory Framework for Corporate Nigeria: Revisiting Legal Services Delivery by Foreign In House Counsel: The Law vs The Practice”, in Lagos on Monday the 25th of August, 2019 at the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association.
- TO Elias, ‘Nigeria: Legal Education in Nigeria’, (1962) 6(2) Journal of African Law117-125; M Onalaja JCA, ‘Problem of Legal Education in Nigeria‘ (AlimiandCo) accessed 22 October 2019; Okechukwu Oko, ‘Legal Education and training in Nigeria’, (1994) 6 Afr J Int’l & Comp L 271.
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