NBA-SBL LPMC: The Peak Of Practice, Investment Is Necessary As It Will Help In The Rainy Days TheNigerialawyer

*Nigerian law firms are not operating at their best yet–Fola
Akande
*A good economy driven by good leadership is key for the success of
the law practice as a business–Seye Kosoko

The Law practice management committee of the NBA Section on
Business Law in collaboration with the Association of Law firm
Administrators of Nigeria (ALAN) organized the program tagged-
“Realigning Business Strategies For Law Firms” in Lagos today.

The event was aimed at exposing law firms to the huge
opportunities that abound in the law practice industry, steps they
need to take in order to have a share of the trillion-dollar
industry and for law firms to move away from the mindset of law as
just a profession to law as a business.

The Chairman of the NBA-SBL, Mr. Seni Adio SAN assured everyone
that the discussion will not end in the room but steps will be
taken for the recommendations that will emerge to be syndicated and
disseminated to the appropriate quarters for the benefit of the
entire law practice in Nigeria.

The event featured 2 plenary sessions discussing same topic but
from 2 different perspectives. The Macro issues comprising
Environmental, economic, political issues hindering law firms from
running as a business and the way forward.

The 2nd session looked at the internal issues, that is, within
the law firm, what they can do to position themselves better,
having a global mindset, how technology can really help their
operations and the need for having good structures in place for
sustainability.

The sessions were moderated by Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede FCIB,
CON.

The first session, discussing the macro issues had the following
panelists:

Mr. Soji Awogbade; Seye Kosoko; Fola Akande; Ademola Akinrele
SAN.

During the discussion, Fola Akande, Company Secretary of Cadbury
said in her own opinion, Nigerian law firms are not operating at
their best yet. Though a couple of firms are improving, there is
still a long way to go especially in the aspect of incorporating
technology into their processes, which can significantly turnaround
time in business. She added

Seye Kosoko shared his thoughts on why the law firms cannot tap
into the huge legal market in the country owing to the fact that
there are only about 100,000 mortgage contracts available for over
200 million Nigerians, about 2 million registered SMEs with less
than 1% of them using lawyers, and many other areas.

He said unless we begin to see the enormous opportunities that
abound in the law business beyond practice, we will continue to
settle for crumbs. He continued by pointing out the fact that we
have a much bigger problem to deal with, the economy of the
country. A good economy driven by good leadership is key for the
success of the law practice as a business.

The UK, the second-largest legal market, had similar challenges
but was able to deal with it with the Clemente Report.

The NBA-SBL must play a very aggressive role to see that the
reforms needed for a smooth business environment come to be.

Aigboje added that the rules and regulations in place now allow
only a few to thrive. Even the few thriving are thriving on
crumbs.

During the Question and Answer session, Soji Awogbade asked the
SBL how they could widen the discussion to reach other states
because the problem faced is a national one, not limited to law
firms in some parts of Lagos state.

Mr. Bayo Akinlade, Chairman NBA Ikorodu Branch, asked when SBL
will move away from a centralized perspective in holding her
programs to reaching other members at NBA chapters as there are no
capacity building programs for them.

Mr. Seni SAN responded by saying the section on business law,
when discussing on a particular subject matter, considers holding
their program at a location with a huge interest in the area of
that subject matter. For instance, if they will be discussing on
issues around the oil and gas sector, they will definitely hold
their program in Bayelsa or Rivers state.

Mr. Okey, lamented that legal fees some 10 to 15 years ago were
far better than what it is today with reference to doing business
with the multinationals and banks. They pay foreign lawyers far
better than Nigerian lawyers, which is not helping the business
here. Nigerian lawyers need to be encouraged by giving them a good
fee for their services.

Fola Akande responded using her company, Cadbury as an example.
If her firm is in need of a foreign counsel, they made it mandatory
for them to work with an in country law firm. For them at Cadbury,
there have been too many regulations that have gone ahead to impact
their business thereby making the management consider cost
reduction. The same will also impact law firms too.

Joy Abiola, asked what could be done about the parochial nature
of lawyers since it is as a result of their training.

Responding, Ademola SAN said what needs to done is Reform in
regulation, curriculum change in the universities. The Justice
Reform Group, working alongside the NBA are really working on the
reform angle to make things right.

Dr. Adeoye Adefulu, the Secretary of the NBA-SBL have his
contribution to the discuss and said billing is quite a big issue
among law firms and needed to be dealt with.

Also regarding the parochial nature of lawyers, the SBL has come
up with a tool called Business Law Competency Framework for law
firms to use in identifying technical and non-technical skills
lawyers need for them to have a broadened mindset. The tool will be
provided for free to SBL members.

Chuba contributed to the discussion by pointing out the fact
that the same challenge the legal profession has, also affects
other professional bodies like COREN, ICAN, so the problem is
needed to be solved with a holistic mindset and not just for
lawyers only. Also, the NBA should think of becoming a pressure
group and constantly engage the politicians who make these
policies, if we will have the desired change.

Responding, Mr. Seye Kosoko the issues are truly foundational
and most times it is the symptoms that are being treated. In
Nigeria, we know how to build businesses but translating them to
become an institution is a challenge that is attributed to our
short-sighted nature.

He also added that when there is a big transaction, it just
cannot be given to a small firm of like 5 lawyers because they lack
the capacity to handle such and that it is very important we
revisit the way we train lawyers in the country.

On their final thoughts, Fola Akande said the profession has to
evolve, it should be seen as a business, law firm owners must think
like a CEO. There is need for a mindset change and law firms must
have an array of commercial scale in their business.

For Soji Awogbade, we do not have the actual data to determine
the real growth in the economy lawyer’s service and so we need more
data than we have today. We also have to price open the economy and
learn to value their services appropriately.

Seye Kosoko advised lawyers to make personal development a
priority. The reality of life is multidisciplinary and therefore
collaboration is necessary. He continued by saying when you bring
value to the table, you will dictate your terms.

Ademola SAN said at the peak of practice, investment is
necessary as it will help in the rainy days. Law firms must learn
to save, to watch their overheads, to practice delayed
gratification and finally build good partnerships.

Aigboje concluded by asking some key questions as a form of
recommendation.

Why can’t we adopt technology, use mobile phones as the only
infrastructure needed to expand our reach?

Why have we not made compulsory the registration of every law
practice as a business?

Why can’t our Nigerian law firms have a presence in the UK or
other countries to benefit from trade finance?