LPDC punishes lawyers for professional misconducts

THE Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has, between January and November this year debarred seven lawyers, suspended twelve and admonished one for various professional misconducts, the chairman of the Body of Benchers, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu has disclosed.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the call to bar of 4, 779 law graduates, who were successful at the August/September 2018 bar final examination, Dalhatu said the LPDC which is a committee of the Body of Benchers has been carrying out its mandate in a just and fair manner without giving room for compromise, affection or ill-will.

He advised the new lawyers to be of good behaviour and abide by the ethics and traditions of the legal profession to avoid been bought before the committee.

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The life Bencher urged the new wigs to eschew evil and stick to the truth and be guided by their conscience and the law, adding that, “As a professional, you must apply wisdom and the courage to refuse to act for a client when client’s instructions would cause you to violate the rules of professional misconduct”.

He noted that the LPDC has the sole responsibility of determining allegations of misconduct against any person whose name is on the roll in his capacity as a legal practitioner and is capable of bringing the profession into disrepute.

In his speech, the Director General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof. Isa Hayatu Chiroma (SAN) said, for the first time in the history of the school, a total of 161 candidates, cutting across 15 universities came out with first class.

Prof. Chiroma said out of the 161 first class candidates, 133 are females while 48 are males.

He disclosed that, in an about 55 years of the existence of the Nigerian Law School, it has not had uninterrupted session as there has never been any incident of closure on account of student unrest, strike action by staff or for any other reason.

To cure the perceived downturn in the training of lawyers and the consequence of producing low quality lawyers, he said the law school has embarked on aggressive review of curriculum to include teaching of ethical, legal writing, teaching methodology as well as methods for general assessment of students.

He said out of the total number of 5,846 students who participated in the final Bar examinations, 4,779 candidates were successful.

Prof Chiroma enjoined the new lawyers to make the best out of the legal profession and must ensure strict adherence to the norms and ethics of the profession.