FREE AT LONG LAST

Free at long last was indeed the exclamation after I had successfully written all papers of the Bar finals examination at the 2015/2016 academic session of the Nigerian Law School.And then began the wait and the accompanying prayers and thoughts of silly mistakes that may have been made in the course of the examinations.I'd recall asking myself to wit:if the questions set as it were,were all there was to the bar finals? I had carefully answered all questions and am glad it turned out well on the long run.

After my solemn call to the Nigerian bar several questions and fears hit my mind as to what next,where do I go from here? What  area of the law can I  possibly create  a niche and satisfactorily compete with the ever changing laws,its indeed a notorious fact that our laws change with time to suit the needs of the society so as not to defeat the social engineering characteristics of the law,my humble apologies to Dean Roscoe Pound.

With the thoughts of where to go and what to do? Still on my mind i've been though willingly subjected to pupilage in a law firm,this would serve the purpose of helping me develop and hone some legal skills and improve on those already acquired through learning.This brings me to the unavoidable difference between the law as it is and the law as it ought to be.For a period of five(5) years at the University and a period of one (1) year at the Nigerian Law School all we had been taught were the law as it ought to be,leaving us with a whole new experience in the outside world where we are faced with the law as it is.No doubts the law as it is may be at variance with what it ought to be,but I am persuaded to believe that we as young lawyers can effect a proper translation of what the law ought to be into every facet of our legal sphere,I admit this would take a while.

Although am yet to find my feet in the practice of law even more discouraging is the fact that the Nigerian Bar Association and indeed senior lawyers have  no plans and have thus far not encouraged young lawyers in this practice,this has raised issues of abuse.We have all earned the right to audience and undertake to practice in accordance with the rules of the profession,we are interconnected in this selfsame practice and should all ensure that we render the necessary assistance to colleagues as the situation presents itself.This is an appeal and a solemn call to install measures to forestall further abuse of young lawyers. The foregoing not withstanding i am certain of the future and verily believe that hard work pays and the diligence and hard work put in now will pay off in the later years.

Freedom in its true sense entails a state of being free,not constrained. Contrary to the kind of freedom I perceived I had gotten from the completion of the aforementioned exams,I've been inducted into one of the noblest professions,the legal profession,called as a minister in the hallowed temple of justice with so much constraints,with respect to practice directions and upholding the standard of the profession which I must not fall short of. This whole episode indeed points out to the fact that man is never free,howbeit it's safe to make allusion to the famous phrase man is born free but is everywhere in chains.(apologies to Jean Jack Rosseau).