TML Exclusive: “No Scale Of Fees For Lawyers Can Work In Nigeria For Now” – Moses Ebute SAN

The first 2 minutes spent with Moses Ebute SAN were quite telling of how busy he can be. One could not help but notice how much of a multitasker he is. From handling briefs at his firm to steering the wheel of the Abuja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (Unity Bar), Ebute has shown capacity, leadership and a firm grasp of happenings in the legal community.
The learned Senior Advocate spoke to the Metro Lawyer’s (TML) Ogechukwu Ochuba and Teyojesam Eko on various issues touching on the Nigerian economy/polity and the Nigerian Bar Association.

How would you describe the impact of the Nigerian economy on the legal profession?

This is a matter that affects everyone, irrespective of the profession except for looting politicians and those occupying political offices or those who have access to free money one way or the other.
More particularly, for those of us who are practicing lawyers, the economy has affected litigants when it comes to paying commensurate professional fees for legal services.
On the other hand, it hampers lawyers from charging or insisting on appropriate fees for services and this is also applicable to non-practicing lawyers.
Furthermore, it affects the capacity of senior lawyers in terms of employment of juniors and payment of commensurate salaries and allowances.
When you talk of impact, it is with respect to positive spending or positive earning. Nobody is earning what is commensurate with services rendered (or just a few) and that also affects our ability to spend. I am a Senior Advocate of Nigeria by God’s grace and in those days a SAN should have not less than five junior lawyers in his chambers because the economy was stable and predictable. Now, you cannot predict your income and you cannot boast of having more than five lawyers anymore. An average SAN should have at least ten lawyers and pay them something reasonable but because of the fear of the unknown brought on by the deteriorating economy, you cannot employ that number only to let some of them go after some time.
Don’t forget that we have not fully recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.
As a welfarist, one should know that a lawyer who has worked with you for 5 years, for instance should be entitled to a car of his own and reasonable accommodation, enjoy pension and social benefits contributions. It is difficult to do that now.
Also, there are more senior advocates than before, so whether you like it or not, the market may not be like it used to be. People could say the old SANs are very expensive so they move to the younger SANs who they feel may be less expensive, that would also affect the spending power and capacity of the old SANs who are already established and supposed to be paying better remunerations to their workers. Before now, if a new SAN moves salaries from 50k to 70k for instance, it’s no news and he is not seen to have done much. On the other hand, an old SAN who ought to earn more may move salaries from 100k to 250k but that is not the case anymore; instead, lawyers have lost jobs as a result of COVID-19 and the economy has impacted negatively on everyone. Even the purchase of books for a rich library has been affected, to buy books like the NWLR which is a weekly publication is a challenge for some, as their prices have increased. All these increases will affect the pocket of an average lawyer, who still has other bills like school fees, rent, etc to pay.
On the part of clients, when they come now and you advise them about your fees, they ask if you are in Nigeria, or you don’t know about the biting economy. So, one has to consider a lot, on billing clients otherwise they leave you and go for a less expensive lawyer.

What do you think about the committee report on the scale of fees recently submitted to the NBA President and would the recommendation be adopted in the Abuja branch when it is released?

No scale of fees would ever work in Nigeria for now! I know I’ve seen the Benin NBA scale of fees which was recently published. In that document, you see most of the columns for legal fees marked, “Negotiable”; this means it’s not fixed anymore. It is at the mercy of the lawyer who is taking the brief to negotiate with the client on the minimum he can collect for a particular legal service, less than what is stipulated as fees. It is not fixed. The minimum is not indicated in the scale but can only be negotiated by the lawyer.
And you can’t peg that minimum for lawyers in Abuja for instance. Most Abuja lawyers are suffering because of the high cost of living here.
Do you know how many lawyers the Nigerian Law School is churning out yearly? And you will now tell that lawyer not to take something less than 100k for instance for a service, of course he will take a lesser amount, especially if that can fetch him a month’s meal!
Secondly, how do you enforce the scale of fees? What is the penalty for breach of the scale? None!

Can the Rules of Professional Conduct then be relaxed in the face of the declining fortunes of lawyers, so that they can be allowed to engage in other businesses apart from legal practice?

I can tell you for a fact that lawyers have been engaging in other businesses. Unless you are arraigned, who knows whether you are doing anything other than legal practice?
When President Buhari’s Minister for Justice and Attorney General of the Federation was being screened by the National Assembly, he told the whole world that he owns hotels, that he runs hotel businesses…and he was in practice. What the rules say is that you should not be directly involved in the day-to-day running of those businesses in addition to your law practice. So you can own businesses and a family member could be running them. Any good or genuine source of income is allowed, as far as I’m concerned. In Nigeria, the lawyer is forbidden from advertising while carrying on law practice or rendering his legal services but any other legitimate business is allowed.
Lawyers own hotels and other businesses just like the AGF and if there are no double standards, whatever is good for Mr A is also good for Mr B.

S. 39 of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for legal practitioners says lawyers should not advertise legal services they render, however in recent times due to the advent of social media, there have been lots of sponsored adverts on Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp, Facebook, etc for legal services by lawyers, even some as ridiculous as “Register two companies with us and get a discount on the third one!” What are your thoughts on this?

This is a serious breach as the RPC forbids any form of advertisement of legal services by a lawyer, including his own agents if he has. So, whether on social media or any type of medium that a lawyer employs to do this, it is forbidden and I also do not approve of lawyers going against our rules. I recommend that such lawyer(s) be reported to the NBA (national or local) and appropriate sanctions be meted out to them.

How about those that try to dodge this rule by writing creative legal content and then input their phone numbers and email addresses “for further enquiries”?
That in my opinion, also amounts to advertisements and must be avoided by all means by lawyers. I know that the practice has become common and the doctrine of necessity is at play here, as they say “man must wack”, especially for the unemployed lawyer.
Also, don’t forget that once one is called to the Bar, society believes that you’re already a millionaire so the demands on the lawyer are enormous. Some lawyers may believe that anything that brings money to them is expedient to do. If not that it is prohibited by our RPC, I could say that is better than being an armed robber. I would prefer a lawyer doing adverts to a lawyer that is caught stealing or committing crime to make money or to make ends meet. That is better but then the RPC condemns it, therefore I also condemn it.

The Nigerian Presidential elections take place next year and several individuals have already indicated an interest in running for that office. What is the role of Lawyers in ensuring the emergence of the best leader for our country?

Firstly, every political party either has or ought to have a legal adviser. It therefore, behoves on such legal advisers and our colleagues in politics to ensure total or substantial compliance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act, and the Party Constitutions in the leadership recruitment process. In other words, they should ensure that in the course of or conduct of party primaries, aspirants are given a level playing ground before the emergence of candidates.
Furthermore, they should be able to advise their parties not to indulge in propaganda but engage in issue-based campaigns and those of us in practice should do our best to discourage frivolous pre-and post-election litigations.
Most essentially, for us to have such leadership there is need to ensure that the candidates to be fielded are people of integrity (educational and otherwise), with intellectual capacity, emotional maturity, religious tolerance, etc… A pan Nigerian par excellence.

Your tenure as Chairman of the NBA Abuja branch (UNITY BAR) is just for 6months. What is your agenda for a positive impact on the Bar in that period and what would you like to be remembered for as branch chairman?

Immediately I took office, we initiated and ensured that the NHIS welfare scheme applicable to branches was assigned to the Abuja branch and we promise to ensure that the beneficiaries receive the same. I am reforming systems, bringing in innovations that will outlive us and cast our marks on the sands of time.
The branch has produced diaries for lawyers that will help with adequate planning.

We are also in the process of producing T-shirts, and face caps with colours depending on the year of call. There shall be a proper appreciation and reward system for our benefactors. There shall be seamless electronic payment of branch dues and other payments. In fact it already exists.
We already commenced interactions with the judiciary to ensure a proper calendar for prison visitation, judges conference, annual vacation, and advance information/communication to lawyers, if a court will not sit, etc.
I would like to be remembered for many things but the primary one is to have a branch secretariat, though you will agree with me that one cannot build such within six months.
But there has never been any foundation laying or ground-breaking ceremony; if it happens during my time, I will be very grateful to God.
I just had a meeting with the branch Building Committee recently and I was told they were poised for that before the former Chairman Dr Shekarau passed. However, the documents of the plot were not handed over to them. We want to get the documents across to them very soon so as to kickstart the project.
Even if it means renting canopies and having one of our meetings there, it will be on record that we had a meeting on our land, if not our secretariat during my time. I would like to commence building before I go, even if it is the last one month of my tenure.
If I have my way, the secretariat shall be named Dr. Hauwa Shekarau House, in order to immortalize her name as she worked passionately to have that building on ground before she died.

What do you think about the recent plans by the FCT administration, to implement noise pollution laws on bars, nightclubs and hotels?
There is nothing wrong with it provided they are in good standing with other civilized climes. After all, no reasonable person will want to appreciate noise or noise pollution in his/her environment.

What are the plans of your administration to promote the welfare of branch members?
Apart from the arrangements I mentioned earlier, I intend to ensure that lawyers have security of employment. In the sense that, there should be a letter of employment and written engagement terms, insurance scheme, pension scheme, and partnership opportunities by employers to mention a few.

Is there still an issue of a parallel NBA Abuja branch, or faction of the branch? If not, how was it resolved?

The outsiders may see it as a faction but we of the Abuja extraction do not see it as such.   The Unity Bar is one. And yes, there may be some dissidents but this is just a small percentage because 99% are together and they brought me on board. You will be surprised that the 1% pay their dues to us and attend our monthly meetings. Generally, most lawyers in the NBA, Abuja owe allegiance to us especially as lawyers in MDAs pay their dues to us.

Instructively, all lawyers applying for the rank of SAN and those applying for judicial offices pass through us for recommendation and not to the so-called faction.
Finally, whenever there is any problem involving a lawyer, security agencies call and rely on us.
I would say that faction for now is comatose. I have paid visits to two CJs now (FCT High Court and Federal High Court) . I don’t see them gearing to do that. I think for the purpose of the elections, they would want to be qualified, so quite a number of them have paid dues to us and attended our meeting. Our attendance at the last monthly meeting shows a number of the former dissidents on our meeting register. Maybe they waited until someone like me came on board as Chairman.
When it comes to application for stamp and seal, they need to pay dues for that to happen. No other person that wants to become a judicial officer or SAN has ever gone to them for recommendation. So, if the people that matter don’t recognize the “branch” you belong to, you should know where to go.
Today alone I have signed up to ten recommendations. Organisations they write letters to, demanding them to pay dues to them, call us to verify who they are and end up paying their dues to us. The police lawyers have even asked that they be charged to court, but I said I can’t tell you to do that to my colleague but if you do not recognize them and pay your dues to us, you have already punished them enough.
I had the occasion of meeting with some of them and I advised them to aspire to be senior advocates, as God has in His benevolence, elevated me to be, not to be factional Chairmen and secretaries at the Bar. Positions in the NBA are only for two years; the only permanent position you occupy at the Bar is that of member, not Chairman. So, there is no need to drag any position, please.
There were just a few members of that faction, but they have recently fizzled out. If you have 100 lawyers in the Unity Bar and 95 of them are one side then you know that the faction of 5 members is negligible and inconsequential.
I also know that with time, that question will be a thing of the past because the CJ is trying to create some more divisions within Abuja and the national leadership of NBA may also create a branch along that line. We may likely have Garki, Apo, Jabi divisions, etc. A branch cannot exist unless there is a division of the judiciary there, like the Bwari and Gwagwalada branches which exist because of the judicial divisions in the areas.
So when that happens, anyone that has an issue with us can go to such a judicial division and join a branch there, though it cannot be called Unity Bar. I think that would be the final solution.
But you need to belong to the established Unity Bar first. You cannot be floating and say you are a faction, because if it is a faction, you cannot go and take over any division, there must be an election there. It will be a new branch and will now have an election before you can have leadership, so the best thing now is to be on the same page with us as members so that when those divisions are created, and a new Bar is formed you can move from here to that new branch. That is why the tension has doused down and we are all working together as one.
What advice would you give to members of the Unity bar?

Yes, I occupy this position of Chairman today because the position was zoned to the North and late Dr Hauwa Shekarau could not complete her tenure and so a Northerner I was brought to complete the tenure of that zone.
You would recall that I contested with Dr Hauwa earlier and I was prevailed upon to step down for her, because from all indications, I was going to be made SAN that year. Because of that and the position in the Northern bloc where we do not engage in rancorous elections, I agreed and stepped down immediately. Even while we were still talking, I announced on our social platform that I had stepped down for her, to the surprise of all. So, when Hauwa died, there was a consensus by the Northern bloc that no other person should run for this office except me, in fact the form was brought to me here to fill and here I am today by the grace of God.
I am praying that my Igbo brothers and colleagues of Eastern Zone whose turn it is to produce the next Chairman of our branch, should tow the same line.
Otu Oka Iwu, Abuja branch had their end of year meeting on the very day I was sworn in (15th December,2022) and I was invited by the SANs from the group, especially Emeka Obegolu, SAN. In my speech on that day, I gave them the advice to emulate the northern formula for leadership in the South Eastern bloc of the NBA Abuja, because each time chairmanship of the branch is zoned to the South East, there is a crisis. In fact the faction issue started from such an election.
This time, leadership is going back to them. Can they put their heads together and have a consensus candidate or at most two candidates, not multiple candidates, please?
They should emulate me, for example, when I was called upon to step down for Hauwa; I did not come up with reasons not to, maybe alluding to the fact that she is a woman and I cannot step down for her. What informed my decision is that it was not a selfish/self-serving ambition. I wanted to render my services to the Bar and if the people I wanted to serve said No, and asked me to step down for whatever reason, why not?!
Goodluck Jonathan was in power for almost six years and conceded defeat after tasting power, how much more I, who had not even tasted that office, how won’t I forget about it? So, it was easy for me to make that decision and also, by my nature I do not drag anything. I believe that whatever is mine will come to me naturally. Here I am today, by God’s grace, and even if I am here for just two days, I will be known as a former chairman of the Unity Bar if I leave.
If they really set out to serve the Bar and their elders have come to a decision about who should go ahead for this time, the rest should abide by that decision, without rancour. Stepping down does not belittle you or remove anything from you, in fact humility is power. I became more popular when I stepped down for Hauwa, I became an instant hero.
It was for the Bar not for me or the Ebute family. That is my prayer for my South East brothers, that this should be a rancour free election.