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Justice Amina, others lament indecent dressing among female lawyers

A retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Amina Adamu Augie, has lamented the indecent dressing among female lawyers in the country.

Justice Augie, while speaking on Friday, in Abuja at an event organised by the Nigerian Bar Association Women Forum (NBA-WF) Abuja chapter, with the theme: “Indecent Dressing: Its Effect on Female Lawyers Dress Code”, called on lawyers to see themselves as an important part of somebody else’s life.

To her, lawyers should dress in a way that inspires confidence because lawyers are supposed to be presentable when they are representing their clients.

She said, “When you come before me as a lawyer and you are not properly dressed, no one will tell you to dress well by the time you are appearing before me again because I will not give you audience and I will also talk to your Principal, why he allowed you to leave the Chambers without being properly dressed.

“As a lawyer, you need to know who you are because it is when you identify who you are that you will be able to instill confidence in others and your client.

“No lawyer dress indecently in my court that I spare. As a lawyer, we should be disciplined, so that when you say you are a lawyer, you are able to instill confidence in others so that when you speak, they will listen to you”, she said.

In his remarks, former Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Sokoto state, Dr. Suleiman Usman, SAN, said no lawyer who is indecently dressed should be given audience in court.

According to him, a lawyer that is indecently dressed in court is setting bad precedence for those coming behind.

“To be properly dressed as a lawyer is very important because it says a lot about who you are. It could lead to disciplinary action because bad conduct of any lawyer could rub off on others.

“For a lawyer to be respected and win the confidence and trust of his client, he must present himself in a decent manner”, he said.

A member of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Bar Association Women Forum, Hajia Mohammed Adama, in her speech, called on parents to be good examples to their daughters.

According to her, as lawyers and mothers, the forum is expected to instill good values in the younger ones.

“We are lawyers and we impact positively society and society looks up to us as well, so, we must conduct ourselves in a a manner that is acceptable, including our dress.

“You will agree with me that with what you see on the internet daily, our societal value is eroding and we cannot allow that to creep into the legal profession.

“The legal profession is a noble one and we cannot allow indecent dressing to impact negatively on the good name that, the profession earned many years ago,” Adama said.

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