NBA urges structural reform in legal practice

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, on Friday called for a fundamental restructuring of legal practice in Nigeria, urging lawyers to move away from founder-dependent models and build firms capable of surviving across generations.

He said the future of the profession lies in institutionalised partnerships, shared responsibility, and succession planning, rather than structures tied to the life or health of a single individual.

Osigwe made the call in Abuja at The Convergence Africa Masterclass 26 for Law themed, “Beyond the Founder: Designing Multigenerational Law Firms that Endure and Scale.”

His remarks come amid growing concerns within Nigeria’s legal community that many law firms collapse after the retirement or death of their founders—a trend experts say has limited the growth, continuity, and global competitiveness of indigenous firms.

Osigwe said the profession must embrace a new paradigm that prioritises sustainability and institutional strength.

He said, “We have a situation where most of our practitioners are sole proprietors who set up businesses, and the life and the health of the businesses are oftentimes tied to the life or the health of the owners.

“We seek a new paradigm, a shift from what is at the moment, where we build businesses that endure, leverage on the strength of those who work there, and allow the older lawyers to come in as partners to create synergies so that even if the founder dies or is sick, the businesses can operate.”

The NBA president added that adopting partnership-based models would enable firms to pool intellectual and financial resources, attract talent, and build enterprises that can stand the test of time.

“To fashion a business model where lawyers will come in from businesses that have endured not only decades but for centuries, and build law firms that pull resources together to make the best.

“Not only in gathering different intellectual contributions from different members, but in leveraging their business acumen to grow businesses that give first-class services, endure, and can continue to give dividends to the family of the members, the founders, even when they are dead.

“We will never know whether they are ready until we start practicalising it. But lawyers are listening and I can tell you more law firms are going into partnerships. They are going into business models that will uplift them and move away from the current way of doing things, which is mine, my own sole proprietorship.”

Also speaking, the convener of the masterclass, Patience Olusuyi, said the initiative was inspired by the need to build legal institutions that outlive their founders.

She noted that while some firms have thrived under partnership structures, many others disappear once their founders exit active practice.

“I’ve seen law firms that partnered and are thriving. Globally, we’ve seen that some law firms are over 200 years old. And I ask myself, in Nigeria, how old is the oldest law firm? There are legends in the legal practitioner that we’ve seen before with amazing law firms. But their law firms are no more because they’re now old and no longer in practice.

“I’m saying this shouldn’t be the trend. And so, for young people like us, it is time for us to harmonise our energies and come together to build formidable firms that can outlive us.

“I believe that great law firms are not those that write thousands of pages on newspapers after the death of the founder of the law firm, but rather a great law firm is one that still has its signposts a decade after the founder is dead and still serving people. That’s why I started this.”

In his keynote address, Paul-Haris Ogbole (SAN) said the longevity of law firms depends less on publicity and more on internal structure, shared vision, and deliberate succession planning.

“It’s not essentially about advertising. It’s about having an internal structure where the firm is able to transcend beyond the current generation of the founders to generations after.

“It’s about having an internal structure where lawyers are recruited into the firm, have a sense of belonging, and know that they can be part of that firm beyond the generation of the founders.”