Ex-Law School D-G canvasses living wage for young lawyers

Former Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Dr. Tahir Mamman (SAN) has called on senior lawyers in the profession to pay living wages to young lawyers in their employment to enable them develop their potentials as the future of the profession.

Mammman, a senior partner in J-K Gadzama LLP made this statement in Lagos as a discussant at the official launching of the Young Lawyers Mentoring   scheme of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos branch.  He urged the young lawyers to be creative and innovative at the early stage of their call to Bar. He decried a situation where senior lawyers pay N20, 000 as salary to young lawyers wondering what such young lawyers will do with such money.

His words: “ Your future is the future of the profession because among you the future Chief Justices of Nigeria, Judges and Justices of Superior Courts and other members of the bench will definitely be recruited. Therefore you deserve to be paid living wages to reserve and promote the future of the legal profession.

He continued: “It is because of the importance of young lawyers to the profession that the Law firm of J-K. Gadzama LLP embarked on a nationwide robust mentoring programme for young lawyers of which the first batch will commence in Abuja next week”.

In his welcome address, the chairman of NBA Lagos branch, Mr. Martins Ogunleye stated that young lawyers are an indispensable part of the Bar, hence the branch decided to support and encourage them to institutionalize this mentoring scheme.  He expressed appreciation to the pioneer chairman of NBA Section on Business law (SBL), Mr. George Etomi, who was chairman of the occasion, the law firm of Olisa Agbakoba and Chief J-K Gadzama (SAN) for their support in making the dream of launching the  branch young Lawyers Mentoring scheme  a reality.

In his opening remarks, chairman of the occasion, George Etomi said that law is life and that law cuts across every field of human endeavour. He said: “ If you want to be great in the legal profession, you must work hard. I think that if you are going to cut corners anywhere, it is not going to work, the only thing you owe your self to compete globally is hard work”.