'I Remember When I Was A Quarter-To-Lawyer' By Adesina Ogunlana

THE LEARNED SQUIB

Vol 1 No 6 30th April 2001

You too must have noticed them – the present crop of quarter-to lawyers(QTL). I refer to no other group of persons than the Law School students who since last week have been invading the law courts.

They are like swarms of bees, in number, and their innocence and ignorance is touching. Going by the bounce in their steps, they must be feeling hip and if one were to gauge their earnestness to learn, one only need to consider the rapt attention they pay to proceedings in court.

But will the QTLS benefit greatly from the so called “Court attachment?” I doubt very much. Their naivety is a blinker to their sight. For example an average QTL mistakes mere grandstanding in a Counsel for brilliant advocacy and values a judge’s worth not by his court-room work but by his charming chamber attitude.

I remember when I was in their shoes some six years ago. I recall that many of us were fascinated by Kessington J (as he then was): we would sneak out of respective courts to His Lordship’s ‘arena.’ Because of our naivety we were smitten by his Lordship’s apparent brilliance and saw nothing wrong with his eccentricism, even when it bordered alarmingly on dementia!

Was Kessington J loquacious and garrulous? Sure he was but we saw nothing wrong there. What about his foul, rude and unfair verbal attacks on lawyers appearing before him – these only spiced up our days. How terribly ignorant we were!

Like now, like then, in the way QTLS tend to jot down everything they hear in Court. It is laughable. If a S.A.N snorted, we put it down. When a judge coughed, we captured it graphically. And I am not too sure whether some of us did not record the routine court chorus of “As your Lordship pleases” and the humming of the Air Conditioner in their notebooks.

A wise QTL would do well to spend the period of the Court attachment to continue studying at his lecture notes and synopsis. 90% of what you see in courts my dear friends are too advanced for your understanding within just 3 or 4 weeks of court attachment, and neither would they have much relevance in your examinations.

Don’t be carried away with court shows. Pass your examination first, obtain your “Q.C” or meal ticket first, as Teacher Adubi of blessed memory taught us at the Nigerian Law School and all other things shall be added unto you.

Verily, verily I say unto you it is much easier to practice as a Lawyer than to pass at the Nigerian Law School. You are welcome.