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British Nigeria Law Forum News

Update from the Chair (HTML) , (PDF 25Kb)

Research Questionnaire with the aim of improving gender access and progression in the legal profession by Hairat A Balogun.

LEGAL PRACTICE IN NIGERIA : A CLOSED SHOP? (HTML), (PDF)

Copies of Presentations made at Closed Shop Workshop, 29 March 2007 at The Law Society, London

- Alison Hook, Head of International, Law Society of England and Wales: An Overview of WTO and it’s relevance to the provision of legal services (PDF 242kb)

- Babatunde Akinyanju, HMCS: Views of the rank and file of legal practioners in Nigeria (PDF 28Kb)

AFRUCA E-Consultation: PROPOSAL FOR A UK LAW AGAINST DIAGNOSING CHILDREN AS WITCHES (PDF)

"Business Law Articles" invited from BNLF members for possible publication in NBA Journal (HTML)

News Archive (HTML only)

Dear Members and Friends of BNLF,

1st BNLF NEWSLETTER FOR 2007
May I begin by wishing you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year. I hope that festive cheer and some rest were the order of the day over the Christmas break, no doubt helped by attendance at the BNLF Christmas dinner which was a great evening of relaxation and laughter at Cottons Caribbean Restaurant in Clerkenwell.
This year promises to be another busy year for the BNLF with a variety of events and initiatives for the forthcoming year. I will list most of them in this newsletter but first you should be aware that election fever has spread from Nigeria to the BNLF. The present Executive has served its 2 year tenure and all the offices are up for election, in addition to a new office to be created, that of Vice Chair. Unlike Nigeria, however, we will also be proposing a few constitutional changes in order to ensure continuity between the post of Vice Chair and Chair. Therefore, we seek nominations of or from active members for the posts of Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. Of the present officers, two will offer themselves for re-election again, namely the present Chair and the present Treasurer Tim Daniel. So if you are an active member who relishes the challenge of responsibility and can help take the BNLF forward, put yourself forward using the enclosed nomination form. Postal/Email voting will take place soon after the mid February deadline for receiving nominations so please make sure that we have an up to date email and contact address for you.

RULE CHANGE FOR UK QUALIFIED LAWYERS WISHING TO PRACTISE IN NIGERIA.
This year the BNLF will campaign for changes to the rules preventing UK qualified Nigerian lawyers from practising in Nigeria without attending the Nigerian Law School. It is time these restrictions were lifted and if you support this initiative we are asking you to join the BNLF and to lend your voice to the call for change. The BNLF is the largest representative bi-lateral group of UK and Nigerian qualified lawyers, but the larger our membership the greater our voice, so join up as soon as you can. A flyer on this is available for download from the BNLF website.

BNLF Events 2007.
Attached is the list of events currently planned for 2007. I hope that you will agree that the group has a number of very exciting forthcoming events for the year which make membership worthwhile, so we encourage you to join and to take part. It is your involvement and support which allows the BNLF to keep moving forward. Details on how to join BNLF are available on the website www.bnlf.org.uk.
Can those of you who are helping with the monthly legal surgeries please make sure you check the duty roster sent by Boma Ozobia, and anyone interested in joining this initiative please contact Boma via the email above.
My apologies for the length of this letter but I wanted to give you early notice and full details of our plans for the year. I look forward to seeing you at as many of these events as you can make.

Best Wishes

Oba Nsugbe QC, SAN

Chair BNLF

Against the background of the WTO protocol on liberalisation of trade and services, the BNLF intends to back calls for the reform of rules preventing UK qualified lawyers from practising in Nigeria without first attending law school, beginning with attendance at the NBA conference in Owerri on 15/16th February at which the NBA’s policy on this topic will be formulated.

* IS THIS AN ISSUE WHICH AFFECTS YOU?
* DO YOU WISH TO BE INVOLVED?
* WHAT PRACTICAL HELP CAN YOU GIVE?
* ARE YOU ABLE TO ATTEND THE CONFERENCE AT OWERRI?
* ARE YOU ABLE TO SPONSOR A BNLF REPRESENTATIVE TO ATTEND THE CONFERENCE?
* ARE YOU IN A POSITION TO SPREAD THE WORD AMONGST OTHER UK BASED LAWYERS?

Please let us know of your views via info@bnlf.org.uk and join the BNLF’s campaign:
“OPENING THE SHOP DOOR”

BNLF is running a workshop on this subject on Thursday 29TH MARCH, 6.30pm at THE LAW SOCIETY,
113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL.

Free to 2007 BNLF Members, £7 to non-BNLF Members.
Pre-registration required. Please see events page to download booking form.

"Business Law Articles" invited from BNLF members for possible publication in NBA Journal (HTML)

We have been asked to confer with you on the topics/ Articles to be published to enable us meet up with the expected publication date. The date for submission of articles for publication for the SBL Journal has been extended to the 22nd of March 2007

We wish to publish articles of practical interest.

Please note that topics/ Articles can also be sourced from business law Associates of yours as long as the papers have not been published elsewhere or are pending for publication.

Topics need not be restricted to only Nigerian corporate practice.
We welcome topics on international law as it affects Nigeria and Africa as a whole

Guidelines for Authors
We welcome contributions of 1000- 3000 words.
The Contributions should be sent to the Editor via email in either word perfect or Microsoft word to funkeaboyade@hotmail.com and pages should be numbered. Title and headings should be as short as possible. It is assumed that contributions are original and are not being submitted for publication elsewhere.
Footnotes should be kept to a minimum and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals.
We would appreciate a quick response from you

Thank you,

Eire. Ifueko Alufohai(Mrs.)
Director(Administration)
NBA-Section on business Law

Retraining funds available for refugee academics: Deadline for applications 5.00pm, Monday 3 July 2006
Click here to dowload PDF flyer for further details.

BNLF on NIDO (Nigerian Diaspora) Leadership Forum held at the Nigeria High Commission on 19th November 2005

Law firm slammed for racism: Employment Tribunal decision in Osita Mba v. Marshall & Galpin Solicitors. Summary Document 22nd November 2005. Click here to download printable version (PDF 30Kb)

Message from Reverend Ben Enwuchola, Nigeria Chaplaincy Centre, 5 December 2005

BNLF AGM and Christmas Dinner 2005: Click here for agenda and click here to view photos from the dinner. Minutes will be posted shortly.

CANUK Launch, Nigerian High Commission, 28 January 2006. Click here to view photos of the event.

BNLF on NIDO (Nigerian Diaspora) Leadership Forum held at the Nigeria High Commission on 19th November 2005

The BNLF participated in a consultation on the concept and process of corporate membership of NIDO, a well attended event with representatives from other professions, the High Commission, the Nigerian Presidency and community leaders across Europe. The BNLF in its statement at the event welcomed this initiative by NIDO as a means of fostering closer co-operation between organisations representing the interests of Nigerians in the Diaspora.

This is because it is the BNLF’s view that it will eventually benefit our members and the larger Nigerian community both here and at home if properly prosecuted. There are certainly precedents for this course of action. One example is the England and Wales Law Society’s group membership of the International Bar Association.
On the process of corporate membership, the BNLF observed that;
· Rules of engagement should be kept simple.
· The rules and infrastructure designed or to be designed to support this new structure needs to be clear and sound.
· All members of the various groups must be treated equally e.g. member discounts should be available to all members.
· Every effort should be made to ensure that there is no duplication or confusion with the role of CANUK in the United Kingdom and the goals and objectives which it sets out to achieve.
· Action and effectiveness should not be confused with size.

Boma Ozobia
BNLF

Law firm slammed for racism: Employment Tribunal decision in Osita Mba v. Marshall & Galpin Solicitors

A leading Thames Valley law firm, Marshall & Galpin solicitors has been slammed for racism after an employment tribunal decided that it discriminated against a black lawyer on the ground of his racial or ethnic origin. The tribunal, in Reading, Berkshire, found in a unanimous decision that the firm racially discriminated against Mr Osita Mba by failing to interview him for a position he applied for.

Mr Mba, who represented himself at the tribunal, qualified as a barrister in Nigeria in 2000 with the best performance at the Nigerian Bar Vocational examination. He came to England in 2001 and obtained a masters degree from the University of Oxford in 2002. He qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in January this year.

Tribunal Chairman Andrew Hogarth QC explained [Para 22 of judgment at page 10]:

”The Claimant is entitled to compensation for the injury to his feelings. It appears to us that it is a serious matter to reject a solicitor for employment on the grounds that he is black African and that if anybody is to comply with the law relating to race discrimination in this country, it should be Officers of the Court. As a result it seems to us that this rejection of the claimant for interview is a matter that should be taken seriously. Solicitors should not behave in this fashion and we award the claimant the sum of £5,000”

The Tribunal was also very critical of Marshall & Galpin’s blatant disregard of relevant equal opportunities provisions in their recruitment process. At paragraph 9 of the judgment the Chairman stated:

The respondents, who apparently have an Employment Law Department, have demonstrated that they are remarkably backward in their approach to equal opportunities. Until this application was made to the Employment Tribunal, no member of their staff appears to have undergone any form of Equal Opportunities Training at all. No member of staff appears to have been aware of the Code of Practice issued by the Commission for Racial Equality, no member of staff appears to have been aware of its recommendations regarding the selection and interview of candidates for employment and no member of staff appears to have been aware of the very similar provisions in the Law Society’s Code of Conduct for solicitors.

Dear All

What an impressive turn out and the enthusiasm you demonstrated last week at the meeting, I was very encouraged. Thank you so much and I will keep you posted with every development.

For those who unable to join us the outcome of the discussion is- the BNLF in partnership with the Nigerian Chaplaincy Centre will run a monthly surgery of free legal advice to the members of the Nigerian Community in London. We agreed that the surgery will hold on the first Thursday of every month from 6.30 - 8.30pm at the Nigerian Chaplaincy Centre beginning from February 2006. The first surgery will hold on Thursday, 2nd February at 6.30 -8.30pm. Ms Boma Ozobia agreed to help draw out a rota for the monthly surgery for all the BNLF members who volunteered to be involved in the project. I will liaise with Mr Oba Nsugbe to design a leaflet to publicise this service to the Nigerian Community. It was also agreed that, at every surgery a maximum of 3 lawyers will be on duty to provide advice which last for a maximum of 20 mins. There is a possibility of organising seminars/workshops to address different issues that will be beneficial to the Nigerian Community in the near future. Details of this will be discussed at a subsequent meeting.

Please for those were present at the meeting, could you help feed in any missing gaps! ! !

In addition to the above I will be exploring others ways of publicising this service to the community.

Thank you once again and trusting that the good Lord will bless all your efforts.

Ben

The Revd Canon Ben Enwuchola
The Nigerian Chaplain Office