*As Lawyers At NBA SLP Conference 2023 Vote Against Wig And Gown
In order to determine whether to preserve or do away with the usage of the wig and gown as part of the court uniform, a sample poll of solicitors was conducted in 9 branches of the Nigerian Bar Association during the months of April and June 2023.
The report of the Survey prepared by Prof Ernest Ojukwu SAN (Chairman NBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee) was published today and showed that 53.48% of lawyers who participated in the survey voted for the retention of wig and gown as the official court dress in the country.
The surveys took place at the branch meetings of the following branches: Abuja, Bwari, Lagos, Ikeja, Ibadan, Kaduna, Banawa, Owerri and Port Harcourt. The responders were required to thick either YES to discard the use of wig and gown or NO to keep using the wig and gown in our courts. The survey was conducted face-to-face using hard copy forms.
The weakness of the survey was that only 1419 of lawyers in only 9 branches were polled. Another weakness of the survey was that an alternative dressing was proposed as part of the decision to vote YES to discard the use of wig and gown as a court dress. The proposed alternative dressing was stated as follows:
“ASSUMING that we recommend No wig, No Gown and no wing collars and bands but only dark business suits and ties for men and dark suits or blazer and knee-length(minimum) skirts for women for all court appearances but only retain the wig/gown/bands for ceremonial occasions such as call-to-bar, Special Court sessions like new legal year, judges retirements, judges and lawyers passing, Will You VOTE YES or NO TO SUCH A PROPOSAL?”
The survey also provided some information about what the practice is in some English Courts now. The information was stated as follows:
“KNOW that-
The wig and Gown are not used by Judges and Lawyers in many English (Wales) Courts such as:
The Supreme Court – No wig and gown, no wing collars, and bands
Court of Appeal (Civil) – No wig and Gown, no wing collars, and bands
High Court (Commercial Div)- No wig and gown, no wing collars, and bands
High Court Family Div- No wigs on Judges (and wigs not required of lawyers)
High Court Criminal Division – Wigs and Gowns still won.”
The result of the survey is shown on the table below:
S/N
VOTES
YES
Discard
NO Do not Discard
% YES
%NO
1
ABUJA BRANCH NBA
137
142
49.1%
50.9%
2
BWARI BRANCH NBA
37
72
33.94%
66.06%
3
LAGOS BRANCH NBA
89
59
60%
40%
4
IKEJA BRANCH NBA
59
51
53.63%
46.37%
5
IBADAN BRANCH NBA
41
35
53.94%
46.06%
6
KADUNA BRANCH NBA
115
81
58.67%
41.33%
7
BANAWA BRANCH NBA
46
66
41.08%
58.92%
8
OWERRI BRANCH NBA
40
50
44.44%
55.56%
9
PORT HARCOURT BRANCH NBA
96
203
32.1%
67.9%
10
TOTAL VOTES = 1419
660
759
46.52
53.48
However, In a recent survey conducted by the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Legal Practice, NBA-SLP has shown that most participants do not want the wig and gown.
The poll which had 104 responses was titled “Dress Code: Does the hood make the monk. Do you agree? 54% of the participants disagreed with the notion while 46% agreed.
The post Majority Of Nigerian Lawyers Vote In Favour Of Wig And Gown In Survey appeared first on Barristers.NG.