NBA legal mail
“This email registration platform is for verified lawyers. Unverified lawyers must ensure that they are verified with the Nigerian Bar Association before undertaking this process otherwise access will be denied” (https://nigerianbar. org.ng/index.php/legal-mail)
The judiciary has taken a giant stride in providing a simple, fast and efficient communication means between lawyers and the courts. Lawyers are required to obtain the legal mail to facilitate communication and correspondence with the courts. The Supreme Court only serves processes by electronic means (legal mail) on all matters, meaning, all new filings as from 16th July, 2018 must bear counsel’s email address.
Professionally, the legal email provides for uniformity and uniqueness in communication with other lawyers, courts, professional bodies, embassies and other stakeholders. The legal mail also has the unique feature of the ability to provide proof of service for designated communications. This is unique to the legal mail platform where a delivery acknowledgement is preserved for communication between court and lawyers regarding service of notices, and other matters, where an sms is also delivered to the recipient to notify them of such correspondences.
It is customary practice in most judicial divisions for processes to be served physically, and the receiver of the process endorses the end and return copy for proof. As simple as this process may sound, irregularity in service goes to jurisdiction of the honourable court to entertain the matter. It starts from mobilising the bailiff to go and serve, then the possibility of meeting the respondent or not to receive the process; the time required for response, and the day fixed for the hearing of the matter.
The essence of digitalizing the court system and communication of correspondence between lawyers and court can be fast, simple and effective with a click of a button, and internet, making justice dispensation fast and technologically compliant. This would require court staff to be ICT compliant to be able to receive processes, assess rate of filing, file in the court registry and serve on counsel and parties, thereby creating a court database for cases in the court docket.
One of the beauties about law is the dynamic and evolving nature it takes through man’s existence on earth; changing from century to century regulating and determining how man should co-exist with another man, and the society he lives in, while the legal mail is mandatory in processes filed in the Supreme Court. Electronic filing and service of process is yet to be adopted in the many high court divisions in the country.
If the High Courts can adopt electronic filing, then counsel need not risk their lives travelling from one state of the federation to another, to file a court process that can be emailed in a second despite distance barrier. Case search in the court docket would be easier and faster; a lawyer’s diary would be electronically set with reminders on our smart devices when a matter is coming up. Likewise when a court is not sitting, communication to every counsel appearing on the date can be done seamlessly and less expensively.
The moment court processes become electronic, then all law firms practicing law in Nigeria with its employees would have no option but to upgrade from the analogue, slow way of doing things to the digital, fast and effective practice of law. Secretaries would fully comprehend sending and receiving official mails to the firms, and forwarding to the party concerned. The issue of not putting down a date in the diary, or overbooking cases on a particular date would be avoided through computerized appointments.
Due to the peculiar nature of our country, transforming the practice of law from analogue to digital may sound fictional. As a matter of fact, some senior colleagues and judges of some courts in Nigeria abhor the thought of using computers and mobile devices to disseminate information between lawyers and court. To this few, the analogue way of doing things does not encourage forgery and misleading the court.
The truth however is that the unique features of the legal mail enforced by the Supreme Court shows that the Nigerian legal system can indeed embrace the digitalization of the means of communication between lawyers and the court, and also fasten justice dispensation in Nigeria. Godspeed! Do send your comment(s),