CJN commends law firm for mentoring young lawyers

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed (CJN), penultimate week Tuesday in Abuja, commended the law firm of Chief J-K Gadzama (SAN) for its large scale mentoring programme for young lawyers in the country and urged other law firms to emulate it.

He made this statement at the official commissioning of the corporate headquarters of the law firm, J-K Gadzama Court.

He said: “I wish to comment upon the commitment of J-K Gadzama LLP to the improvement of the quality of legal practitioners through its mentoring programme. Although not a new initiative, it has doubtless become a gold standard in the type of positive improvement that firms can and must make to the lives of our young legal practitioners

I hope the firm continues to take on law school students and our younger colleagues who will seek much needed Chamber attachment and pupilage under it, given the sheer size and area of the building, I have no doubt that it can” the CJN stated.

In his welcome address, Chief J-K Gadzama (SAN) said: “ Our firm was accredited about a decade ago and registered by the Nigerian Bar Association ( NBA) as a Legal Education provider. As part of our corporate social responsibility to the legal profession, a mentorship programme named after renowned Justice Chukwudifu Akunne Oputa ( JSC) of blessed memory will commence in this quarter for young lawyers who are below ten years post call. The aim of this programme is to equip these young lawyers with the requisite skills, knowledge and values to enable them deal with everyday legal practice, which they require, but lack due to their infancy at the Bar. This is important as the future of our beloved legal profession lies in the hands of these young lawyers who will one day, be at the helm of affairs in the profession.

“ It is therefore imperative to ensure their overall development and capacity building to efficiently carry the mantle, revolutionise the legal profession in tandem with modern trends and do greater deeds than we have done. I encourage us all to imbibe this idea for I strongly believe that most of us here never had the chance to benefit from such during our early days at the Bay” Gadzama stated

Highlighting  the aims and objectives of the mentoring programme, Gadzama said: “The essence of mentoring is for the mentor to help the mentee become better in a particular area.