The legal practitioners act: a code for regulating the conduct of lawyers in nigeria

• Author: Michael Chukwujindu Ogwezzy
• Position: Faculty of Law, Department of Public International Law Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria
• Pages: 108-119

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 3 (2013), pp. 108-119

108

THE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS ACT: A CODE FOR REGULATING

THE CONDUCT OF LAWYERS IN NIGERIA

*

M. C. Ogwezzy

Michael Chukwujindu Ogwezzy

Faculty of Law, Department of Public International Law

Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria

* Corespondece: Michael Chukwujindu Ogwezzy, Lagos, P.O Box 30678 Secretariat,

Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Email: ogwezzym@yahoo.com

Abstract

The legal practitioner is an expert whose services and expertise are required by

members of the public. He is expected to maintain the highest standards of professional

conduct, etiquette and discipline in the discharge of his duties. In addressing himself as a legal

practitioner he represents to those who depend on his professional advice and other services

that he has the requisite acumen and expertise. For this reason, under the general common law

and the rule in Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v. Heller & Partners Ltd, the lawyer can be held liable

for professional negligence. This paper will address “the Relationship between a Lawyer and

the Client” in the Context of the Legal Practitioners Act and Case Law as negligence in

handling of a client’s affairs may be of such a nature as to amount to professional misconduct

and if sued by the client will warrant prosecution and punishment of the Legal Practitioner.

This is because it is the duty of a lawyer to devote his attention, energy and expertise to the

service of his client and, subject to any rule of law, to act in a manner consistent with the best

interest of his client. He shall consult with his client in all questions of doubt; and keep the

client informed of the progress and any important development in the matter as may be

reasonably necessary and warn his client against any particular risk which is likely to occur in

the course of the matter.

Keywords: Nigeria, lawyer, professinal ethic

Introduction: Meaning of Professional Ethics?

In different parts of the world, dozens of ethics centres and programmes are established

and devoted to the study of business ethics, legal ethics, bioethics, medical ethics, engineering

ethics, and computer ethics. These centres are designed to examine the implications of moral

principles and practices in all spheres of human activity on our lives. Ethics can be viewed

from two angles, normative and prescriptive.

First, ethics refers to well-based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what

humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, and

specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable

obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical

standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty while

ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to

freedom from injury, the right to choose, the right to privacy, and right to freedom of speech

*

LL.B, (Ibadan) B.L, LL.M, (Nigeria) ML.D, (DELSU) MASIO/LL.M, (ZH/Switzerland) (Ph.D in View),

Lecturer I, Faculty of Law, Lea d City University, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Toll Gate Area, Ibad an, Oyo State-

Nigeria, Email address: ogwezzym@yahoo.com, Tel: +234 8035 460865.