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One thought I have been processing about legal education in Nigeria. I was to share this at the last @NigBarAssoc General Conference, but my panel did not have time to get to this. THREAD!
So one thing a lot of practitioners complain about is the fact that graduates of law from Nigerian universities and the Nigerian Law School need significant legal re-education to be valuable in the workplace.
A number of reasons have been advocated for this: outdated curricula, dated teaching and examination methods, insufficient inclusion of practice-based methods into academic study etc.
Based on this, various solutions have been proposed: revamping the academic curriculum, pupillages, amendments to teaching & examination methods etc. The problem is that these solutions are more long-term and require significant alignment of the profession and other stakeholders.
Similarly, some solutions may be worse than the problem. For instance, I have been a strong advocate against pupillage in Nigeria given the country’s socio-economic situation...
In my view, pupillage in Nigeria will simply raise the cost of entry into the profession with little evidence that it will result in better quality outcomes for clients and users of the legal system.
What if we can revamp legal education in Nigeria by simple strategies that result in visible improvements without having to rework the entire system?
1 thing that has struck me in some of the schools I have been fortunate to attend is the level of involvement of practitioners & law firms. Instead of grovelling about how ill-equipped law graduates are, they take deliberate steps to improve legal education. How do they do this?
A few examples: My PhD supervisor is the Allen & Overy Professor of Corporate Law in Oxford; one of my PhD assessors is the Hogan Lovells Professor of Law and Finance in Oxford; the director of the MCL program when I was in Cambridge was the S.J. Berwin Professor of Corporate Law
I have met and attended seminars taught by the Herbert Smith Freehills Professor of English Private Law in Oxford. Incidentally, when I worked in HSF in London, the HSF professor periodically delivered guest lectures on issues of English law (particularly the law of contract)...
...which helped the practitioners stay up to date with legal developments. There are scores of examples in other universities and other countries. Of course, the various professorial chairs will have different KPIs.
How can we deploy this in Nigeria? Assume that a law firm (Olaniwun Ajayi LP or OA) endows a professorial chair in Banking Law in the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to the tune of $100,000 annually. My estimation is that this will not be a significant dent to the firm’s finances.
The KPIs for the seat are that the occupant (1) publishes in 2 globally reputable journals annually; (2) publishes, edits or co-authors a book on the subject every 3 years...
...(3) engages a minimum of 2 PhD students as research assistants; (4) delivers a guest lecture to practitioners in the firm on legal developments every quarter.
A number of things happen in this situation. First, the chair is able to attract sound academics to UNILAG. Nigeria’s best products pursuing doctoral degrees (both at home and abroad) are able to see the academia in Nigeria as a viable career option.
Second, our academics have the funding and incentive to conduct world class research and publish globally. Outdated reference textbooks are quickly replaced by more modern, better researched publications as sound academics fight to meet their KPIs.
Third, the combination of sound academics and world class research will result in direct benefits to students . Students of Banking Law in UNILAG quickly become extremely more knowledgeable in this field than their counterparts in other universities.
What benefit does this bring to the sponsoring law firms? First, the guest lectures directly improve the knowledge of practitioners in the firm who, over time, can provide better services to clients.
Second, the chair improves the reputation and prestige of the firm, particularly if occupied by a worthy holder who can fly the firm’s name high globally.
Third, if I am a partner in such a firm, I will push to grant internships to the best three students of the Professor occupying the chair. I will match these students with buddies in the firm and, subject to availability, aim to absorb them on completion of their studies.
This ensures I have a continuous pipeline of Banking Associates taught soundly and mentored continuously. Suddenly, I no longer have to grovel about the quality of associates joining my banking team.
Imagine if we now have the Aluko & Oyebode Prof. of Commercial Law in UI; the Banwo & Ighodalo Prof. of Securities Law in OAU; the Templars Prof. of Corporate Law in UNIABUJA; the O.M. Atoyebi Prof. of Law and Tech in UNILORIN; the Punuka Prof. of Entertainment Law in LASU;
The Jackson Etti & Edu Prof. of Intellectual Property Law in OAU; the AELEX Prof. of the Law of Taxation in UNILAG etc. We really can transform legal education in Nigeria!
Of course, the above is not to say private individuals should absolve government of the responsibility for education. It is also not to say that the firms mentioned above must endow professorial seats (although I hope they, and many others not mentioned, do).
It is to say that if we are really concerned about legal education in Nigeria, we can put our money where our mouth is. Stop grovelling; start doing! I will, of course, endow an academic chair as soon as I am able to.
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