*WHAT THE PUBLIC NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT LEGAL PRACTITIONER’S REMUNERATION FOR LEGAL SERVICES IN NIGERIA
Prof. Nnamdi Obiaraeri
It is an aphorism that information shared is power while information hoarded is a secret. World over, it is common knowledge that it is easier to open an oyster with bare hands than to get a lawyer to speak without fees. That being the case, how much fees should or can a lawyer charge for legal services in Nigeria? How much fees are clients liable to pay lawyers for legal services in Nigeria? Put differently, is there a scale of charges or are there scales of charges for legal services in Nigeria or can a lawyer’s fee be arbitrary? Is a lawyer allowed to undertake pro bono work (free legal services for public good) or conduct cases free of charge for reasons of consanguinity or affinity, and if the answer is positive, what is the lawyer expected to do? Can a lawyer charge fees that are lower than those prescribed in the scale of charges for remuneration of legal practitioners and if yes, what must he do? Is there a consequence or penalty in the event that a lawyer fails, refuses or neglects to charge fees prescribed for legal services?
The above and many more others are the frequently asked questions concerning remuneration of legal practitioners in Nigeria for legal services. Fortunately, the Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Services and Representation) Order, 2023 has provided clear answers or guidelines to queries or concerns about remuneration for legal services.
This being a public enlightenment intervention, before throwing light on the questions that appertain to remuneration of a lawyer for legal services, it is important to accentuate that the legal profession in Nigeria is highly regulated. In Nigeria, a legal practitioner or lawyer is a person duly admitted or called to the Bar by the Body of Benchers.
Any person who has a Bachelor of Laws degree or chains of postgraduate degrees in law earned in Nigeria or overseas but who is not admitted to the Nigerian Bar by the Body of Benchers after earning a qualifying certificate from the Nigerian Law School is not fully qualified as a lawyer and cannot practice law in Nigeria.
All lawyers or legal practitioners in Nigeria are subject to the Rules of Professional Conduct. Any Legal practitioner who is reported to be in breach of the Rules of Professional Conduct is liable to be tried and may get disciplined by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee.
In extreme cases, the name of such unethical lawyer may be struck off the roll. In this succinct interpolation therefore, reference to a lawyer denotes a legal practitioner called to the Bar in Nigeria and who is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association which is the umbrella body of all lawyers in Nigeria.
A legal practitioner’s remuneration or payment or fee for legal services is never arbitrary. The legal practitioner’s harmonised remuneration for business, legal services and representation is contained in Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Services and Representation) Order, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the “LPR Order, 2023”). The LPR Order, 2023 which came into effect precisely on the 16th day of May 2023 is compulsory and binding on all legal practitioners in Nigeria.
Additional key things members of the public are invited to note about the LPR Order, 2023 include but are not limited to the following-
(a) The LPR Order, 2023 has regulated and standardised lawyer’s non-negotiable professional fees for sundry services like consultation and legal opinion, incorporations, or registration of companies and business names, civil or criminal litigation including conduct of cases and or appeals in the Federal High Court, State High Court, National Industrial Court, Customary Court of Appeal, Sharia Court of Appeal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
(b) Remuneration for legal practitioner’s services must comply with scales of charges in the Schedule of the LPR Order, 2023 depending on the different State bands age at the bar, status or rank of the legal practitioner.
(c) There are five scales of charges in the LPR Order, 2023 which prescribe irreducible minimum remuneration and not the maximum fees for sundry legal service. Thus, in appropriate cases, a legal practitioner may charge elect to charge differently provided the requirements of paragraph 2 and 5 of the LPR Order, 2023 are satisfied (meaning he must get a written approval of the Remuneration Committee to charge differently), but never below the scale of charges in the LPR Order, 2023. The factors that may warrant a lawyer to charge different fees from those prescribed in the scale of charges include (i) complexity of the matter, the difficulty or novelty of the issues in question; (ii) skill, labour, experience, specialised knowledge and responsibility required on the part of the legal practitioner; (iii) number, diversity, technicality and importance of the documents prepared or perused; (iv) time expended by the legal practitioner on the business or service; (v) location and circumstances in which the business or service, or a part of it is transacted or performed; (vi) turnaround time required by a client for completion of the business: (vii) amount of money or value of property involved; and (viii) importance attached to the business by the client.
(d) A legal practitioner shall before commencing work on any business or service, and not later than 14 days from the date of receipt of the instruction, issue written terms of engagement to his client, setting out the scope of work and fees. The agreement must be mutual and in writing.
(e) Drafts and copies of documents or instruments made in the course of business for which remuneration is provided under the LPR Order, 2023 shall be the property of the client. This is self-explanatory.
(f) It is professional misconduct for a legal practitioner not to comply with the LPR Order, 2023 and any defaulter is liable to be reported to the Remuneration Committee of the Nigeria Bar Association which will shall investigate the report and, upon establishing a case, report the infraction to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for appropriate disciplinary measures.
(g) Pro bono cases are exempt as they are not caught in the web of the remuneration order. This promotes Social justice and access to justice for the poor and indigent. This supports legal aid work under matters recognised under the Legal Aid Act, 2011.
(h) For reasons of consanguinity or affinity, a legal practitioner may charge no fees or render gratuitous services provided the mandatory requirements for such deviation as outlined in paragraph 7 of LPR Order, 2023 are met and or satisfied by the legal practitioner.
(i) Any person, meaning lawyers and non-lawyers alike, are authorised to report cases of non-compliance with the LPR Order, 2023 to the Remuneration Committee of the NBA. All complaints about breach of LPR Order, 2023 are consecrated within the exclusive powers of the Remuneration Committee of the NBA.
A Remuneration Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association has been set up to monitor, receive report, investigate and report any case of non-compliance with the LPR, Order, 2023.
(j) Under the LPR Order, 2023, the 36 States in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja are grouped into three distinct “State bands”. Paragraph 14 of the LPR Order, 2023 explicitly interprets “States” to include Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Under the provisions of paragraph 14 of the LPR Order, 2023 there are State Bands I, 2 and 3 and their compositions are as follows:
(i) State band 1 includes Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Borno, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kastina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara States.
(ii) State band 2 includes Akwa lbom, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau and Rivers States.
(iii) State band 3 includes Federal Capital Territory and Lagos State.
Paragraph 14 of the LPR Order, 2023 clarifies sufficiently that “State band 1, 2 and 3” mean, with respect to a legal practitioner’s remuneration, the state where the legal practitioner carries on his practice or the state where the business or service is to be carried out.
(k) The Schedule to the LPR Order 2023 contains the applicable scales of remuneration 1 to 5 for different services depending on state bands and ages and rank of the legal practitioner. The full provisions of the Scales of charges cannot be included here because of the obvious reason of space constraint. Suffice it to say however that scale of charges for remuneration under band 3 is higher than that under band 2 and band 1. Remuneration under band 2 is higher than that under band 1 while scales of charges under band 1 are the lowest of all the three bands.
(l) The minimum scale of charges and indeed the entire provisions of the LPR Order, 2023 is not shrouded in secrecy. Hardcopy of the Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Services and Representation) Order, 2023 is published as Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette No. 012, Vol. 110 of 5th June 2023 (Government Notice No. 68) by the Federal Government Printer, Lagos, Nigeria can be obtained even as its electronic version is also available online.
In view of the foregoing, members of the public are further invited to note that the LPR Order, 2023 was made pursuant to the powers conferred on the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee under section 15(3) of the Legal Practitioners Act, 2004. Adherence to the standardised charges under the LPR Order, 2023 is mandatory and any legal practitioner who contravenes it runs the risk of facing the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee. Where infraction of the LPR Order, 2023 is established, the offending lawyer’s name may be struck off the roll.
Conclusively, adherence to the LPR Order, 2023 will eliminate touting in the legal profession and those members of the public derisively call “charge and bail lawyers.” Clients who take the services of legal practitioners deserve to get utmost professional satisfaction therefrom which, unarguably, pettifoggers are not suited to provide because, notwithstanding that insecurity, dwindling economy and inflation have affected the earning power of all Nigerians, yet the legal practitioner must have a functional law office with current law reports, books, journals and other electronic resource materials to assist him provide quality legal services.
A new normal is possible!
Prof Obiaraeri, N.O.
