Folake Solanke and her concern about indiscipline among lawyers at ABUAD forum

First Nigeria’s female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN) Chief Folake Solanke has in a lecture at Alfa Belgore hall of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti expressed worries about rising indiscipline among lawyers.

She identified some of such indiscipline acts, particularly among junior lawyers as improper dressing, lameness to court, poor use of English language while addressing the court or arguing cases.

The 85 year old legal luminary made her feeling known at the weekend in a lecture she delivered on “the vocation and the capacity of lawyer”, to the law students of ABUAD.

Chief Solanke who became a lawyer 54 years ago and first female SAN, 36 years ago, cautioned against poor dressing manner as well as character of lateness by Nigerian lawyers to courts, saying such attitudes fell short of expectations.

According to her, some lawyers were not doing well to rightly project the image of of the profession through their conduct.

She also lamented the poor reading culture among some of the lawyets, saying such lazy attitude to work was capable of eroding their respect as well as intelligence quotent.

Solanke who regretted that some lawyers had become so literarily married to the internet at the expense of conventional acquisition of knowledge through book reading.

“A good command of the English Language is a sine-qua-non for success at the Bar, to succeed in the profession of the law therefore, you must seek to cultivate a good command of language, which is the lawyers’ tools of trade

“When you are called upon to address a judge, it is your use of words that you will hope to persuade the judge of the rightness of your case

“As a lawyer, you are not expected to regard the internet as all in all, rather, you must see it as just an additional educational facility that should not be seen as substitute to for reading physical books

“You must not rely on ‘cut and paste’ mentality and methodology because you are just copying another petson’s work , which is a form of plagiarism and it is unlawful

“Gradually, your knowledge becomes shallow as you are not applying your own brain

“I can tell you categorically, and with all sense and with all the emphasis that i can muster that a so-called lawyer who does not resad books will not succeed

“This is not a curse, it is an undisputable professional fact tested with my 54 yeats advocacy at the Bar, with 36 years of them as the first female SAN in Nigeria” ,

“Be assured too that there is no African time in the courts, you are either punctual or you are late

“Impeccable appearance by lawyers in black and white is also paramount, lawyers are expected to wear black court shoes and not bathroom slippers to court,. And to female lawyers, they are not expected touser dangling earrings to court, they are to wear small earrings while their professional wig should sit tidily on their moderate hairstyle, she said.

Solanke, who is currently a recipient of two national honours, of the OON and CON, encouraged lawyers to venture into vocations such as politics, education, banking, business, the clergy, the military and many others, the same way lawyers like chiefs Afe Babalola, Kola Daisi and Subomi Balogun did.

“This is because i know many lawyers have the intellectual capacity and infrastructure to so perform”, she said.

Earlier in an address of welcome on the occasion, the proprietor of the university, Afe Babalola said the invitation extended to Solanke was part of his mentoring programme for practising and upcoming lawyers.

Aare Babalola who described the guest lecturer as one of the few most conscientious brilliant, leading giants, the country has produced ln the legal profession, thanked her for the great lesson that she has given them and urged the students to tap from her wisdom in the legal profession.

Gbenga Sodeinde, Ado Ekiti