Nigerian Law Society Rejects CJN’s ‘Barrister’ Ban, Says Directive Lacks Statutory Backing

The Nigerian Law Society (NLS) has challenged a directive from Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, stopping lawyers from using “Barrister” as a title in official engagements at the Supreme Court.

The directive, contained in a July 13, 2026 memo signed by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Kabir Akanbi, instructed legal practitioners and court officials to use “Esquire” instead of “Barrister” as a prefix to their names. The memo said the move was intended to maintain professional standards at the apex court.

But the NLS has disputed the legal basis of the directive. Its Executive Director, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, argued that the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 recognises Nigerian lawyers as both Barristers and Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Nigeria after they are called to the Bar.

Jaja said the use of “Barrister” alone may not fully reflect the professional titles recognised under Nigerian law because it leaves out “Solicitor”. However, he maintained that “Esquire” and other suggested alternatives are not expressly provided for in the Legal Practitioners Act.

“The problem with this recommended title of ‘Esquire’, or even other alternatives ‘Barrister-At-Law’ or ‘Attorney-At-Law’ is that they do not appear inside the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962,” Jaja said.

The NLS further argued that neither the CJN, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) nor the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) can impose professional requirements on lawyers where such requirements are not expressly established by the relevant legislation. The society said the same principle should apply to debates over the use of the Senior Counsel of Nigeria (SCN), or “Blue Silks”, title.

Jaja accused the CJN and LPPC of applying inconsistent standards by questioning the statutory basis of SCN while permitting the use of “Esquire”, which he said is also not contained in the Legal Practitioners Act. He described the position as discriminatory and cited Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution in support of the society’s argument.

The NLS also challenged the assumption that every professional title used by lawyers must be directly created by legislation. Jaja cited the historical development of the King’s Counsel title, which Nigeria adopted and later modified into the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) rank, arguing that the tradition itself was not originally created by Nigerian statute.

According to Jaja, the SCN rank is instead supported by guidelines developed by the Nigerian Law Society and the Body of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (BOSCON). He said those guidelines were established pursuant to Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 19 of the National Assembly Service Commission Act, 2014, while maintaining that the wider dispute should be judged against the actual legal framework governing the profession.