A female Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mrs. Funke Adekoya yesterday called on female lawyers to maintain a culture of decent dressing when appearing before a court of law.
Adekoya, made this call in Port Harcourt, while delivering a paper during a judges’ forum on the topic ‘Mutual respect between the Bench and the Bar: Courtroom Ethics and Decorum’ as part of the ongoing 2011 annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
She said decent dressing among female lawyers was necessary to promote mutual respect between judges and lawyers as well as promote courtroom decorum and for the members of the public to have confidence in the judicial system.
“You should not dress to the Court as if you are going to a night club. A lawyer is an officer of the Court and should not conduct himself in any manner that would obstruct or cause a delay in the administration of justice,” the female SAN said.
Adekoya, while calling on judges to be punctual and kind in the discharge of their duties, advised lawyers to have respect for the judges irrespective of their relationships and avoid lambasting them on the pages of newspapers and television screens when not satisfied with judgments.
“As lawyers should respect the institution even if you do not respect the person sitting there” she said.
The female lawyer lamented that the legal practice has been hijacked by the idea of profit making and that lawyers have now resolved to writing petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) thus, responsible for the present judicial situation in the country.
In another session at the Rivers State House of Assembly, lawyers were challenged on the need to familiarise themselves with the technicalities of the power sector reform act and its relationship with the Oil and gas sector to be able to advise their clients properly.
Barrister Rotimi Idowu who made the call while giving a discussion on the power sector reform in advised the NBA to engage in training lawyers on the power sector so that the country does not depend of external counseling.