LSP022: The Calculation of Post Call Years for Legal Practitioners in Nigeria

Until now, there has been a foggy of uncertainty about the calculation of post-call years for legal practitioners in Nigeria. For instance, if an individual was called to the Nigerian Bar in November 2019, how many years has such an individual spent at the Bar till now?

This uncertainty has been demystified by the Federal High Court Abuja in the case under review. The Court stated ‘…. that the moment a person is called to bar, his Post Call year begins to count from that year he was called and the person must pay practicing fee for that year he was called to bar’.

Back to our example, an individual who was called to the Bar in November 2019 and paid his practicing fee in that year is deemed to have used one year at the Bar. If he pays in 2020, that makes it two years, and payment in 2021 makes it 3 years.

At this juncture, it is pertinent to state that the payment of the practicing fee is between January 1 of every year and March 31st of that year. The exception is for the new wigs who are usually not called to the Bar within that time frame. Nevertheless, they are required to pay their practicing fee within one month of enrollment. See Rule 9 (1) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Furthermore, the consequence for nonpayment of practicing fee means that such a legal practitioner will not practice for that defaulting year. In addition, the fee varies and it is determined on how many years a lawyer has spent at the Bar.

The payment schedule is:

•Senior Advocates & Honourable Benchers – N50,000
•Legal Practitioners of 15 Years & above post call – N25,000
•Legal Practitioners of 10-14 Years post call – N17,500
•Legal Practitioners 5-9 Years post call – N10,000
•Legal Practitioners of 1-4 Years post call – N5,000

Thank you for reading. See you next week.