Bullying and Sexual
Harassment are cankerworms that has eaten deep into the workplace in Nigeria.
Bullying is the use of coercion, force, or threat, to abuse, aggressively
dominate or intimidate. 



This behavior occurs repeatedly. Examples of bullying
include, spreading malicious rumors, excluding or isolating someone socially,
undermining a person’s work, physical abuse, making offensive jokes, intruding
on a person’s privacy, yelling or using profanity, blocking applications for
training, leave or promotion, intimidating a person, establishing impossible
guidelines, unwarranted punishment and so on. The sad thing is that it has
become the Nigerian workplace culture to protect and even promote bullying.
Senior colleagues and employers are guilty of this when they use terms like
“orange´’ or “dull” head to their subordinates.

It is easy to understand
that sexual harassment can be a form of bullying, especially when it is used to
intimidate or dominate over that person. Sexual Harassment has been defined as
any unwanted behavior of sexual nature which makes one feel offended,
uncomfortable, intimidated or humiliated. Examples of sexually harassing
behavior include, unwelcome touching, staring, suggestive comments or jokes,
requests for sex, intrusive questions about a person’s private life or body,
unnecessary familiarity, sexually explicit physical contact, unwanted
invitations to go on dates and so on.

Everyday, thousands of men
and women are constantly bullied and sexually harassed by their employers and
colleagues. Bullying and Sexual Harassment occurs everywhere – law firms,
companies, government and even in the judiciary and the victims are usually the
subordinates – interns and new wigs.

The reason why many of the
victims are silent is because of the status of the perpetrator, fear of
repercussions and not knowing the appropriate authority to report to.  

The Nigerian Labor Act
failed to criminalize both bullying and sexual harassment. Although Section 262
of the Criminal Law of Lagos State criminalized Sexual Harassment. 

How do you win with a man or
woman upon whom your livelihood depends but is determined to frustrate you just
to demonstrate superiority? What are the steps to follow when bullied or
sexually harassed at your workplace?

In legal practice, what are
the forms of bullying and sexual harassment faced by lawyers, judges and even
law students? These issues and so much more would be discussed at the Plenary
Session of the NBA Annual General Conference scheduled to hold on;

Date:
Tuesday, 27^th August 2019

Time: 
11.00 – 12.30

Venue:
Zinnia Hall

Speakers:

Moderator:
Hon. Justice Teddy Aruba

Panelists:   
Ogaga Emoghwanre

Mia Essien SAN

We look forward to having
you contribute and join the discuss at the NBA Session on Bullying and Sexual
Harassment in the Legal Community.

@Legalnaija 

Earlier today, members of the TCCP led by NBA President Paul Usoro, SAN paid a courtesy visit to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. 

During the NBA SBL Annual Conference, the Governor has mentioned how ready the State was to welcome Lawyers nationwide to Lagos for the Annual General Conference #NBA2019AGC #nbaagc2019

The Lagos branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in collaboration with the Commercial Legal Department of MTN Nigeria organised a masterclass for lawyers on best corporate legal practices. This is part of the Lagos Branch’s efforts at deepening industry knowledge through its Continuing Legal Education and Mentorship Committee.

The event, which featured a cross-section of senior as well as young counsel, took place at MTN Nigeria’s corporate headquarters in Ikoyi and saw counsel share best in-house practices, debate, learn and network. 

Weaving a variety of in-house case studies with her extensive experience as one of the country’s foremost corporate lawyers, Ifeoma Utah who is the General Manager, Commercial Legal MTN Nigeria, spoke on the increasing influence of the corporate counsel, and highlighted the key strands of being a great corporate lawyer. 

Here are five key learnings from her keynote presentation. 

In-house teams are essential 

For Utah, in-house teams have never been more important and she had a lot to say about this. 

“There is more to being a lawyer than just drafting documents and going to court. You have to be a coach, a financial expert, a business analyst and a star negotiator, among others,” she said.

She added that it was imperative that corporate counsel expands their knowledge beyond just law.

“An in-house counsel is a bit of a generalist; you must know a bit of everything because the company that you serve will require you to give advice on a range of issues.

“You must be knowledgeable about the industry, about your company’s products and services, about the culture and the customs of geographic regions where your company operates.”

Risk management

A good in-house counsel must build capacity for risk management. In explaining the MTN approach to this limb, Utah put it this way, “MTN Nigeria runs a risk-based legal services approach. Our belief is that we do not wait for the shoe to drop before we move in. We make sure the shoe does not drop.” 

How does the corporate counsel ensure the shoe remains steady and running? Ms Utah puts it rather bluntly,

“Plan, plan, plan for every contingency. Have a Plan A, B, C and D, just in case. Envisage every possibility. It is hard work but the watchword of a smart lawyer is to plan.”

Crisis management 

Utah was emphatic about the critical role in-house counsel play in ensuring that their companies integrate legal advice in their decision-making process.

“Crisis Management is indispensable to big business. Research shows that 59% of businesses have experienced a crisis, but only 54% of businesses have a plan in place to deal with them. 

“Responsible companies do not relegate their lawyers to the background. They bring them to the table. We are not an afterthought,” she added.

Approach to litigation 

It might be a fine art but good in-house teams have a keen eye of matching the right case to the right external law firm. Utah puts it this way: “There are big cases that don’t require a SAN to handle while there might be a N1 million case that we retain a SAN. It’s all about the long term implications.”

In addition, not every dispute has to end in litigation. She told a funny story of a self-professed female fan who in writing a N20 million-demand letter to the in-house team in 2017, said she had been praying for MTN Nigeria since the company commenced operations in 2001 and “now that they [MTN] were successful, the company had abandoned her.” 

The team, after conferring with other departments within the company brought the woman and her lawyer in, had a chat and gave her some branded gifts. She withdrew the demand.

Emotional intelligence

She spent some time speaking about how the corporate counsel should have the right balance with IQ as exemplified by intelligence and the appropriate qualifications and EQ as defined by an emotive, considerate approach to achieving corporate objectives.

In her summation, “Emotional Intelligence is critical to success as a lawyer.  You need to understand the vicissitudes of the people you’re negotiating with. It will help with knowing how to press people’s ‘mumu’ button.”

She added that in her experience, emotional intelligence is the key differentiator between two highly qualified people. This is how she summarised it.

“When you have the technical competence pats down, it will be your soft skills that will distinguish you. Always strive to know how to connect with people.”

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is set to hold the 59th edition of its Annual General Conference (AGC) from August 23-29, 2019 at the Convention Centre of the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos; with an adjunctive venue for breakout sessions at the Harbour Point Event Centre, also in Victoria Island, Lagos.

This year, the Conference will feature over 30 technical sessions and showcase sessions, where subject-matter experts, business leaders and renowned political leaders in various fields of human endeavour will lead conversations primarily aimed at envisioning the future of the Legal Profession, within the context of a rapidly changing and evolving world, and anticipate the adaptive measures that practitioners will be required to embrace in light of these imminent changes.

Notably, subject to registration, the Conference is open to all members of the NBA and, indeed, members of the public, and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the NBA is enthusiastically ready to welcome delegates and guests to the high-octane City of Lagos with its very rich and diverse cultures, bustling with entrepreneurs — The Centre of Excellence.

CONFERENCE THEME:  “FACING THE FUTURE”

Nigeria recently welcomed a new democratic administration following the just concluded 2019 general elections.  A new administration of the Nigerian Bar was ushered in last year. Within the period of 6 years, Nigeria has experienced markedly mixed fortunes, including the end a boom period, a recession and, more recently, a slow recovery. These events underscore the exigencies for a well-defined, deliberate template for “Facing the Future”. 

The Conference will address issues around the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, access to justice and protection of fundamental human rights, the economy and how to pilot the present to assure a better future. The theme “Facing the Future” is borne out of the pressing need to invest in a sustainable foundation for an optimistic future.

The phenomena of globalization and technology have evolved exponentially over the years and have disrupted practically every sphere of society. Artificial intelligence, block chain, financial technology, cloud computing, electronic documentation and electronic discovery are a few of the technologies that have directly and will continue to impact the manufacturing and services sectors including the legal and justice sub-sectors. The Conference will interrogate the current legal regulatory environment, lawyers’ response to technology and preparedness to harness these tools for efficient legal services delivery and a technology driven judiciary.

This year, the Conference places the NBA Sections and their respective specialist committee sessions at the heart of the conference programme for capacity building. 

Lawyers will have a real opportunity to focus on their areas of interest and benefit from exposure to emerging practice areas to be better equipped and reinforced to Face the Future.

SOME SESSIONS AT THE CONFERENCE:

1. Code Of Conduct Tribunal: A Clash Of Judicial And Executive Powers

2. Capacity Building in the Oil and Gas Industry – What are the essential drivers to take us there?

3. Lighting up the Future – Identifying and Removing the Clogs in the Power Chain

4. Social Media: Culture, Liability and Professional Ethics

5. Trade in Legal Services: Current Realities and Future Possibilities

6. State of Play, Future Challenges and Opportunities in Cross Border Trade in Legal Services

a. Examining the Emerging Formations and Structures for Collaboration

b. Domestic Policy Change

7. Regional Economic Communities and Regional Economic Agreements on Cross-border Legal Services (AfCFTA, EPA, ECOWAS etc.)

a. Readying Your Practice to Tap the Opportunities

b. Threats

c. Effect of Do-Nothing Approach

8. Digital Trade in Legal Services

a. Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Trade in Legal Services

b. NextGen Lawyers

c. The Challenge of Regulating Digital Trade Legal Services

9. Public Private Partnership: Panacea to Economic Development and Change 

10. Infrastructure Financing in Nigeria; Sukuk and the Future

11. Leveraging Technology in Justice

12. Administration: Issues and Challenges

13. A Future Fit Legal & Regulatory Framework for Corporate Nigeria

14. Revisiting Legal Services Delivery by

15. Foreign In-House Counsel: The Law versus Practice, etc.

These are only a few of the sessions at the 2019 conference. Kindly visit: www.nbaconference.com/index.php/provisional-programme/ for a comprehensive outline of the full programme.

SPEAKERS

The President of the International Bar Association (IBA); Mr Horacio Bernardes Neto will be attending the conference, where he will launch the IBA Working Group on Sexual Harassment and Bullying in the legal profession.There would be over 40 other speakers and guests at the conference.

SOCIAL EVENTS

There will also be several networking events and mentoring opportunities between bar leaders and young lawyers at the conference. 

The TCCP and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) have lined up various social events such as, cultural and art displays, music and dance performances from across the length and breadth of country, comedy shows, as well as cocktail events at the ‘Conference Friendship Centre’ to promote relaxation and further networking and interactions among Conferees. There will also be annual soccer tournament. 

The 2019 NBA Conference is the conference to beat! Each conferee will go back to base, better and more professionally equipped and experienced than they came.

FOR UPDATES ON THE 2019 NBA AGC, VISIT THECONFERENCE WEBSITE

www.nbaconference.com and follow it social media handles below: 

1. Twitter: @NBAConferenceNG

2. Instagram: @NBAConferenceNG

3.Facebook:Nigerianbarassociationconference

The CCT
Chairman, however snubbed a query the Federal Judicial Service Commission
(FJSC), issued to get his reaction to the petition accusing him of engaging in
reckless abuse of judicial powers on the ground that that he is not a judicial
officer and further that unlike judicial officers, members of the CCT, at
the time of their inauguration, take official oaths and not judicial oaths.

According to him, “With regard to the prayer of
the petitioner for an appropriate sanction against the chairman, it is
important to note that the chairman and members of the tribunal, not being
judicial officers, are not constitutionally subject to any disciplinary
proceedings by either the National Judicial Council or the Federal Judicial
Service Commission but the Presidency. “The petitioner alleged that judicial
oaths were breached and that the National Judicial Council should consider
appropriate sanctions. It is to be noted that the chairman and members of the
Code of Conduct Tribunal are not judicial officers.

The CCT Chairman also provided a letter
marked NJC/CIR/HOC/1/74, which had specifically barred members of the CCT from
referring to themselves as Justices. The then CJN, noted that going by
provisions of Paragraph 15 (1 and 2) of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule of the
1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, members of the CCT panel
could not be regarded as judges. “From the foregoing provisions, no member,
including the chairman of the CCT on appointment, is a judicial officer as
defined in Section 318 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended unless he or she
has held office as a judge of the superior court of record in Nigeria”, the
letter added.

Another issue that came to the fore
was the power of the CCT Chairman to order the suspension of the Chief Justice
of Nigeria following an exparte application filed before the CCT. These issues
have caused heated national debates with the Courts of Law also being sort to
give a definite position on the impasses.

These issues would be one of the
issues discussed at the upcoming NBA Annual General Conference and panelists
who will speak to the issue are the Learned Silks, Mr. Mike Ozekhome, SAN and
Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN. The Learned Silks will certainly have a lot to say
about the legal position regarding the CCT and all lawyers who are interested in
the Rule of Law and due process in Nigeria should make sure to attend.

@Legalnaija

www.legalnaija.com

Introduction

Copyright infringement which can simply be referred to as piracy is the use of creative works belonging to creatives protected by copyright law without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights allotted to the Intellectual property (IP) rightsholder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works.

Online piracy in Nigeria has gained momentum with a lot of websites engaging in file sharing for users to download.  The Nigerian piracy scene does not frequently feature large file uploads of above 1GB with most users lacking the ability to afford large amounts of data bundles required for large file downloads. The piracy scene features web uploads of files ranging from 2MB – 600 MB. The most commonly pirated files are music files, movies and TV series, with a plethora of websites dedicated to providing two or three of the above-mentioned file services. 

According to the Disruptive Creative Economy Meeting  (DCEM), digital music consumption in Nigeria overtook physical consumption circa 2013 and market revenues from physical sales, which have been declining steadily year on year, are now dropping to well below $10m. Due to the mass acceptance of social media and its ability to simultaneously reach a broader audience in multiple jurisdictions, it is not uncommon for the sharing of copyrighted content on these internet intermediaries.  The ease of acceptance and speed at which social media works has made the sharing of illegitimate copyrighted content swift. 

The Nigerian Copyright Commission has made several attempts  at fighting piracy but its efforts are yet to be noticed on the internet space.

A Failure to Stop Online Piracy

The Nigerian copyright space has been left bereft of a watchdog to curtail the activities of online copyright infringers commonly known as pirates. The inaction of several regulatory bodies and private enforcement efforts has also led to the proliferation of copyrighted content. This content is therefore accessed by users who should have paid for these services and product. The effect of the lack of a combative measure to combat piracy as led several persons to believe that all IP content should be free and made available to all Nigerians. 

The Nigerian entertainment & media industry according to PWC  is currently valued at the sum of 3.7 Billion dollars, while this report focuses on the total value of the industry it does not give a direction on the blockage of these illegal activities.  It is estimated that the Nigerian creative sector loses a large sum of money to pirate groups and the emerging group of online content providers simply referred to as blogs (inclusive of dedicated music blogs and download link sharing websites).  

The piracy scene in Nigeria can best be described as an unfettered freeway with little or no rules as a lot of the platform owners do not believe they are breaching the law. They feel it is a privilege to provide Nigerians with premium quality content to gain revenues from ad serving platforms. Such platforms that upload illegal content have, therefore taken advantage of the lack of knowledge on most consumers and the failure of the relevant stakeholders to stop illegal downloads. 

REFERENCES 

During the #NBA2019AGC, Prof Stephen Lowry from the University of Kent’s Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science will be the Lead Speaker at the session titled “Space, the final frontier”. 

Other topics for discussion in this session include: 

– Exploring our boundless universe of possibilities 

– International Space Law & Practice 

– Nigerian National Space Policy, and 

– Investment and Scientific possibilities in the Nigerian space industry. 

Other panelist are Dr. Gbenga Oduntan (Associate Professor of International Commercial Law, University of Kent); Motolani Fadahunsi – Banjo (Chief Legal Officer, National Space Research & Development Agency) and Temidayo Isiah Oniosun (Managing Director, Space in Africa). 

The session will be explosive and Lawyers who are fascinated with space and the solar system should look forward to an amazing session. 

Will you be there because we will.

#NBA2019AGC #Aliens #nasa #spacestation #spaceships #spacejam #nigerianlawyers 

#nbaconference2019

When in 2017, some of our clients’ bank accounts were severally frozen by their banks, via bankers’ orders obtained by the Nigerian Police from the Magistrates Court in Lagos pursuant to a spurious petition written by a commercial bank, our Law Firm approached the High Court of Lagos State on their behalf, challenging the constitutionality of bankers’ orders on several grounds.

In a class action with Suit No. LD/1961GCM/2017 between C. E. Osemene & 5 others (representing themselves and other bank account-holders whose accounts have been frozen by irregular and invalid bankers order in Nigeria) against Guaranty Trust Bank and 6 others, the Claimants took out an originating summons praying for:

1. A DECLARATION that a banker’s order/order freezing bank accounts cannot be validly issued pursuant to a non-existent/repealed Banker’s Order Act 1847 and/or any other irrelevant foreign law.

2. A DECLARATION that section 89 of the Evidence Act 2011 does not empower a Magistrate to issue a Banker’s order and/or order of freezing bank accounts.

3. A DECLARATION that a Magistrate lacks the powers to make banker’s order and/or order of freezing bank accounts pursuant to non-existent/repealed section 7 of the Banker’s Order Act 1847 (42 VICO11).

4. A DECLARATION that a Banker’s order and/or order of freezing bank accounts cannot be validly issued without a proceeding in court.

5. A DECLARATION that a Banker’s order and/or order of freezing bank accounts cannot be validly issued without a court proceeding with suit number and record of proceedings.

6. A DECLARATION that a Banker’s order and/or order of freezing bank accounts cannot be validly granted Ex parte to last indefinitely.

7. A DECLARATION that a Banker’s order cannot be validly granted in the absence of a formal application supported by an affidavit.

8. A PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the 7th Defendant, his officers, agents and/or legal representatives from further approaching the Magistrates’ court and/or any other court for a Banker’s order without filing a Motion supported by an affidavit and suit number.

9. A PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the 1st to 6th Defendants from further giving effect to a Banker’s order without first conducting an official search and obtaining a certified true copy at the registry of the court that issued the order.

10. Such other consequential Order (s) that this honourable court may deem fit to grant in the circumstance.

The matter was initially assigned to Hon. Justice W. Animahun who granted the class-action certification order but was later re-assigned to Hon. Justice K. Alogba (now Acting Chief Judge) for hearing. We served, well over, 4 hearing notices on the office of Inspector General of Police (7th Defendant) but they, unsurprisingly, did not show up throughout the matter. However, the banks responded and upon which process, the matter was eventually decided on the 24th day of May 2019 when the momentous judgment was delivered thus:

On non-existence of Bakers Order Act 1847 pursuant to which bankers’ orders are usually granted (especially by Magistrates Courts), Alogba, J. (as he then was) held thus:

“Claimants strongly contended that the Bankers’ Order Act 1847 pursuant to which the order of the Magistrates Court was made was non-existent. That may as well be correct but the proper and/or correct law is the BANKERS’ BOOKS EVIDENCE ACT 1879 CHAPTER 11. To begin with, extensive research revealed that there is no law known as Banker’s Order Act 1847. Rather, what is in the statute books is- BANKERS BOOKS EVIDENCE ACT, 1879. 

On nullity of Bankers Orders:

“So that, to begin with, the bankers’ order in issue in this case was patently issued pursuant to a non-existent law and afortiori, null and void ab initio and of no effect whatsoever. The contrary matter is the case with the so called “Bankers Order” in issue herein proceeding from a non-existent law and under a non-existent legal proceeding and ordering beyond the limits of inspecting and or taking copies of entries in the banker’s book and also not for the purpose of any existing or pending legal proceeding. It is an order which can only exist in the imaginary world of the dreamland certainly not in any existing, valid, pending “legal proceedings” stricto sensu as clearly defined in section 10 of the law (supra). For short, it is a Nullity ab-initio.”

On whether the Police can freeze accounts without legal proceedings:

“Section 4 of the Police Act does not expressly grant such power or prerogative to the police. In the course of their investigations, if the police must have recourse to and take copies of bankers’ books, they must strictly comply with section 7 of the Bankers Books Evidence Act (supra). They must institute a legal proceeding and there’s no difficulty or hindrance in so doing, for the law itself grants liberty that the order may be obtained ex parte the bank or party to be affected, the only and inescapable condition precedent is that, a legal proceeding must be instituted first and it is only under or in such existing/pending/action/application, that such an order can ensue, legally and validly so.”

On whether the courts are empowered to order freezing of bank accounts and/or arrests under the Bankers Books Evidence Act:

I must not fail to mention and indeed, emphasize the point that, in so far as bankers books are concerned and if the application be under the Bankers Books Evidence Act (supra), the court is limited to making an order for inspection and taking copies of such entries only. The law does not empower the court to order a freezing of any party’s account in whatever name called and worse still an arrest of any operator of such account by the bank (as the orders usually say on their faces) and I am sure banks will not dare do so – for it is clearly not their portion- legally speaking. Properly speaking, a court (Magistrates court in particular) ought not grant an order of arrest under the guise of section 7 of the Bankers Books Evidence Act (supra).

On the whole, the court concluded thus:

“This action succeeds in its entirety and I declare as follows:

(1) That the Bankers Order Act 1847 is a non-existent law.

(2) A bankers order cannot be granted by any court pursuant to a non-existent law to freeze or otherwise impede the running of any person’s bank account without a pending legal proceeding properly initiated by appropriate originating process and in accordance with or pursuant to a substantive legislation on the subject matter.

(3) Section 89(1) of the Evidence Act 2011 does not, on its own, empower any court to make any order to freeze bank accounts.”

The judgment of Hon. Justice Alogba (Ag. CJ) couldn’t have come at a better time than these perilous times where several people and legal entities have fallen victims of the shenanigans of the police as well as the indifferent complicity of banks at perpetually and brazenly freezing bank accounts on the strength of demonic and repressive bankers’ orders usually granted pursuant non-existent laws. 

Coming from the acting chief judge’s bosom, the judgment ushers in, a new dawn as it marks a watershed in our justice-system, while kicking out the era of employing bankers’ orders, especially without a court proceeding, and confining same to the abyss of regrettable judicial history. It is hoped that all courts take judicial notice of this oven-hot decision which ought to form the basis for a new practice direction for all Magistrates in Lagos state as far as bankers’ orders (if there is anything like that) are concerned.

Olumide Babalola is the managing partner of Olumide Babalola LP.

There are about 39 sessions scheduled to hold at the NBA
2019 AGC, for ease of reference, you may look through the following list of
General Interest Sessions to see which session you would be interested in attending
–

1.    
Code of Conduct Tribunal: A Clash OF Judicial
And Executive Powers

2.    
Trade in Legal Services: Current Realities
and Future Possibilities

3.    
Leveraging Technology In Justice
Administration: Issues And Challenges

4.    
Opening the Window On Lawyer Wellness And
Mental Health Concerns

5.    
Space, the Final Frontier: Science, Policy,
Law and Regulatory Framework

6.    
Rule of Law Symposium 

7.    
Judicial Protection Of Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights

8.    
Trafficking In Persons And Irregular Domestic
and Cross Border Migration

9.    
Implementing SDG 5 (Gender Equality and
Female Empowerment).

10. The
Future of The Legal Profession and The Regulation of Legal Practice and
Practitioners

For more information on sessions, speakers and other
valuable information on the NBA 2019 Annual General Conference, you can visit
the conference website at www.nbaconference.com

@Legalnaija

www.legalnaija

The Nigerian
Bar Association, NBA, Africa’s largest body of lawyers with over 100,000
members, will be holding its 59^th,Annual General Conference scheduled
to hold from August 23^rd – 29^th, 2019, at the Eko Hotel
& Convention Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The Conference, which is one of Africa’s largest gathering of
lawyers will have the theme; FACING THE FUTURE, a theme that is most relevant
at this point in the history of our country, the Bar and Bench . World leaders, citizens
and institutions worldwide are concerned about what the future holds. The
rapidity of innovations and change in the political, business and professional
space is perhaps more pronounced in our generation than ever before.
 Nations worry, not about the inevitability of change, but about the
capacity to predict, navigate and transform institutions to positively manage
the present and future in a way that nourishes sustainable growth in wealth
generation, freedoms, peace and security.

According to the Technical Committee for Conference Planning (TCCP). “One of the challenges facing the
legal profession today is not just the effect of globalisation and technology
but also its attendant disruption in almost every fibre of the society.
Artificial intelligence, block chain, financial technology, cloud computing and
electronic documentation are a few of the technologies that have directly
impacted and would continue to impact the manufacturing and services sector
including legal and justice sub-sectors. The legal practitioner’s task
therefore, while appreciating the inevitability of the disruption, is to
anticipate the depth of its impact and understand the need for strategic
retooling in order to explore the opportunities inherent in the disruption.”

The Conference
seeks to stir up conversation about our future as Legal Practitioners viz-a-viz
emerging global trends and local realities as well as ensure lawyers
individually discover the path to navigate the unforeseen future of legal
practice. Also the Paul Usoro, SAN led NBA administration has introduced several
dynamic innovations to this conference aimed at ensuring capacity building for lawyers
and making it the best NBA conference ever for delegates.

The List of
innovations introduced by the NBA President to ensure the coming NBA Conference
is different from the norm include –

1.      Appointing some of the best minds into the
Technical Committee for Conference Planning (TCCP)

The
Chairman of the TCCP is Gbenga Oyebode, MFR, Chairman Management Board at Aluko
& Oyebode and most certainly one of Nigeria’s most prominent lawyers. The
Co – Chairman is Olumide Akpata, Partner at Templars and also past Chair of the
Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on Business Law.  Others include the Chair persons of the NBA
Sections – Mr. Seni Adio SAN, Chairman NBA SBL; Mrs. Miannaya Essien SAN, Chairperson,
NBA SPL; Dr. Paul Annanaba, SAN, the Chairman SPIDEL and Professor Kanyinsola
Ajayi of Olaniwun Ajayi & Co.

2.     Sessions are driven by the various NBA
Specialist Committees

During
previous NBA Annual General Conferences, general interest issues drove the
sessions, however, the 59^th #NBAAGC is driven by over 40 NBA
Specialist Committees including the Committees on –

–         
Energy, Natural Resources & Environment

–         
Intellectual Property

–         
Law and Individual Rights

– Civil Litigation/ Professional Development

–         
Economic Development

–         
Corporate Counsel

–         
International Trade Law

–  Law Firm Management and Professional Development

–         
Accountability and Governance  

The aim of
allowing Committees drive the sessions is to ensure that lawyers who attend the
sessions are able to learn new things and actually develop their legal skills.

3.     Structured after the IBA Conference

The NBA AGC
2019 is moduled after the IBA Conference, the International Bar Association is the global voice of the
legal profession
and is the foremost organisation for international
legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA Annual Conference
serves to
advance the development of law and its role in business and society and to
learn from the experience of others.

4.      Most number
of Past NBA Presidents playing active roles

This NBA AGC 2019 will
have the most number of past NBA Presidents playing active roles at the
conference. Mr. J. B Daudu, SAN will chair the session on the Code of Conduct Tribunal:
A Clash of Judicial and Executive Powers; Mr. Austin Alegeh will chair the
session on Trade in Legal Services: Current Realities and Future Possibilities
and other past NBA Presidents playing active roles include Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN,
Mr. A. B Mahmud, SAN Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN and Mrs Priscilla Kuye.

5.     Introducing dynamic discussion topics

The TCCP has introduced several
dynamic and highly debated topics into the sessions scheduled to hold during
the NBA AGC including topics on social media culture; incursion of Multi –
Disciplinary firms; Brexit and African Trade; Challenges of Democracy in
Nigeria, Bullying and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Community, 10 Things No
One Knew At Law School, Space the Final Frontier, Medical Negligence and the
Rule of Law to mention a few.

About 12,000 Lawyers will
be converging at the 2019 NBA AGC and it promises to be one of the best
conferences ever.

@Legalnaija

www.legalnaija.com