| Until clients stop lying,
lawyers ‘ll be accused of telling lies
By NGOZI ECHENDU
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A legal practitioner has declared that young lawyers, who
refuse to undergo pupillage training will always have problem
in practice.
According to Olukayode Olowoselu, avoiding pupillage has led
to the downfall of young colleagues in the legal practice
which has led them to ‘Charge and Bail’ practice.
In an interview with Daily Sun, Olowoselu
disclosed his interest for studying law, problems confronting
young lawyers and advice to young lawyers.
Interest in law
I had interest in law when I was in primary school. It continued
in secondary school. My interest is to defend the oppressed
and my family. As time goes on, I wanted to change my mind,
but my father kicked against it. My fear then was over the
belief that lawyers die young. Later, my father informed me
more about law and I picked the courage. It has been a wonderful
experience.
Pupillage
It is very important because most of the problems young lawyers
are confronting are lack pupilage from a senior colleague
before going into practice I am strongly in support of pupillage
before starting a firm.
I went through my own pupillage for three years with ‘Buck
and Cool’, I was with ‘Buck and While there’,
I gathered much experience because we go to court everyday.
When I opened my own chamber, I did not have much problem
in handling cases.
First appearance
My first appearance was in Lagos Island before Justice Adeyinka,
when I was asked to pronounce my name very well, I felt nervous.
Criminal justice system
This is the area the Federal Government has to look into,
especially the area of granting bail to an accused person.
When you want to bail an accused person, you will be asked
if you have a property or a civil servant. Aside these, bail
would not be granted. A client of mine was detained for months
due to the fact that he couldn’t provide somebody who
owns a property. It is not supposed to be so. I appeal the
Federal Government to do something about it.
Lawyers are liars
The clients are the liars while lawyers are honourable men
because it is what the client tells the lawyer that he holds
on to. The lawyer was not in the scene of the action, so;
I believe lawyers deal with whatever their clients say. Until
clients learn to tell their lawyers the truth, they will never
stop referring lawyers as liars.
Advice to young lawyers
After they are called to Bar, they should try as much as possible
to undergo pupillage from a senior colleague if they actually
want to excel in the profession. They should also do more
research work and read much.
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