NBA-SBL Trains Lawyers on Business Strategies for Law Firms

Law firms will not really advance, until Lawyers start treating law practice as a business in every sense of the word. This was the conclusion reached by senior Lawyers and Business Strategists, at the business luncheon of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on Business Law at the Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, last Tuesday.

The workshop which was organised by the NBA-SBL Law Practice Management Committee, was in collaboration with the Association of Law Firm Administrators of Nigeria (ALAN).

The presentations which were in two plenary sessions, were moderated the Founder and Chairman of Coronation Capital, Aigboje AigImoukhuede, the former CEO of Access Bank and a senior Lawyer in his own standing.

In the panel were Mr. Soji Awogbade of Aelex, Seye Kosoko of FBN Holdings Plc., Fola Akande of Cadbury Plc., Demola Akinrele, SAN, Afolabi Caxton-Martins, Chineye Okorocha, Jumoke Lambo and Odunola Onadipe. The theme was ‘Realigning Business Strategies For Law Firms’ and the hall was packed full of Lawyers from different fields of legal practice.

In piloting the proceedings at the workshop, Moderator, Aig-Imoukhuede, drew attention to the fact that the law industry is a trillion-dollar one, in terms of revenue globally. But, he said that, Nigeria being in the 27th position in world economies, in terms of size, should have its fair share of the revenue, which unfortunately it doesn’t enjoy. Why? Participants agreed that there is a wide space for growth, and debated what Nigerian Lawyers should do, to fill that space.

Some regretted that Nigeria is presently merely taking the crumbs out of that global market. According to Mr. Soji Awogbade: ‘We have made a success out of law practice, but haven’t made business out of practice’.

Aig-Imoukhuede also pointed out that, globally Nigeria is rated as having the highest IQ in Africa, but that Nigeria is far from optimising its potentials.

It was the consensus amongst panelists, that other countries have moved ahead at transforming professions into viable businesses, and law must move along that trend.

Other submissions were that, although we are not there yet, we need to up our mastering of technology. Other panelists noted with seriousness that, there is an existential threat to the legal profession in Nigeria.

Another focal issue identified by a Council Member of SBL, Mr. Okey Egbuchu, is that foreign Lawyers are paid far more higher than their Nigerian counterparts, for the same transactions. The panelists also noted that, Nigerians know how to handle businesses, but institutionalising them is a huge challenge.

Aig-Imoukhuede further recommended that, the registration of law firms by the Corporate Affairs Commission should be made compulsory. That this should include, branding, marketing, and training in law firms.

Awogbade recommended that the issue of business strategies for law firms, should be elevated to national level by the NBA.

In his remarks at the occasion, the NBASBL Chairman, Mr. Seni Adio, SAN, assured participants that the discussion will continue, and steps would be taken to actualise the recommendations that will be syndicated and disseminated to the appropriate quarters, for the benefit of the entire law practice in Nigeria.

Fola Akande said the legal profession has no choice but to evolve, and law firm owners and partners must begin to think like CEOs. A mindset change among Lawyers and law firms, must be have an array of commercial scales in their business.

Another panelist, Seye Kosoko, said law firms would be unable to tap into the gigantic legal market in the country, due to the fact that, there are only about 100,000 mortgage contracts available for over 200 million Nigerians, and about 2 million registered SMEs with less than 1% of them, using Lawyers. He said Lawyers must begin to see the bigger picture, and massive opportunities that abound in the law business beyond practice; otherwise, he warned that, Lawyers would continue to settle for crumbs.

In a chat with This Day Lawyer, NBA-SBL Secretary, Dr. Adeoye Adefulu said: ‘putting this kind of workshop together, the Law Practice Management Committee deserves our commendations. It should be noted that, we have had this kind of insular concept about legal practice. We are delivering a service to people, who may not be Lawyers. Yes, Lawyers in other jurisdictions are better paid than Nigerian lawyers, but their firms get paid higher fees than Nigerian firms. We must consolidate our legal practice in such a way that, we can deliver at a higher level. We must aim to commoditise our services’.

NBA-SBL Chairman, Mr. Seni Adio, SAN had this to say of the workshop: ‘at the SBL, we take our programmes around the country, to certain places that have a greater affinity with the subject-matter in question. We intend to take the outcomes from this seminar into a concise format, and disseminate to Lawyers across the country, so that as many Lawyers as possible, can benefit.

‘I can say without a shadow of doubt that, many Lawyers are ready for a paradigm shift, that law practice should be taken as a business and we are ready to run with that. We should now be having, round pegs in round holes. Some firms now have a panoramic view, of what legal practice should be. We need to start developing skills in our firms, not just in terms of size, but skills.