NBA Lagos Law Week Comments June 10

By Stephen Aya / posted May 20, 2024

The annual law week of the Lagos branch of the Nigerian Bar Association will be held between June 10 to 15, 2024.

The Branch announced the date and theme for its 2024 annual Law Week during a press conference held at the Olaniwun Ajayi LP, 401 Close, Banana Island, Ikoyi to herald the event

In his welcome address, the Chairman of the Branch, Olabisi Makanjuola stated, “The Law Week is scheduled to be held from 10th to 16th June 2024. It promises to be innovative, enlightening, informative, and transformative. The Law Week Committee is putting up a Law Week that is positively different from what we have been experiencing. It will be very relevant to every lawyer who is a member of the branch regardless of the sector one may find himself or herself.

For the first time, there will be a Bar and Bench from where Judges and Lawyers are expected to discuss serious issues regarding the relationship between the bar and the bench and also be a post-Law Week Implementation Committee to ensure that the communique from the week does not become another mere historical document but ensure it receives the necessary attention and implementation required.

In her speech, the Chairperson of the Law Week Committee Mrs. Folashade Ali SAN, said “I am glad to announce that NBA Lagos Branch Law Week 2024 is coming up on 10-16 June 2024, in Lagos. The theme for this year’s conference is “Charting New Legal Frontiers: The Practice of Law in Nigeria, Cross Border Alliance and Partnerships”

She stated that this theme was chosen because legal services are changing globally. The practice of law is also changing everywhere, from Accra, Doula, London to New York. Some Nigerian law firms now have offices outside Nigeria. Foreign law firms are also entering Nigeria, mostly through mergers and affiliations with local firms. These developments are projected to continue and even expand in scope as more Nigerian lawyers and law firms explore business growth,” Alli, SAN explained.

“The question is: Are Nigerian lawyers ready to benefit from this global change, or will we continue to overlook and underestimate the pressure that globalization of legal services is exerting on the legal services in Nigeria?

“Is Nigeria going to continue to maintain a protectionist approach, or will we be proactive by initiating master alliances for cross-border legal services?

“Lastly, what role is Premier Bar playing, given its pre-eminence as the premier bar, and most of the leading law firms that are active in cross-border practice are located in Lagos.

This year’s Law Week promises to be parked, filled with various activities ranging from a bench-bar day, democracy walk, plenary sessions, law clinic, Elders night, law week party, and raffle draw amongst other activities Alli SAN further explained.

Other activities announced as part of the law week are visits to the Prison and Motherless homes, New Wigs From, and health walk/talk as well as a novelty football match and Family Day which will take place at the Muri Okunla Pack on the 15th of June.

The keynote address for this year’s Law Week will be delivered by Mr. Segun Oshintogun, the Global Senior Partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, an international law firm with well over 1000 lawyers.

She then urges all lawyers to clear their calendars and save the dates. You cannot afford to miss this. We will keep members updated on further developments in this regard,” she added.