By Ernest Ojukwu, SAN
I have just read a notice of 15th January 2025, by BOSAN signed by Secretary Olumide Sofowora, SAN titled “Prohibition of Advertisements and Adulatory Publications”.
The notice requires among other things a prohibition of SANs from any form of advertisement that promotes lawyer’s services.
I do not think that BOSAN or any of its agents, has the power to re-write the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for Legal Practitioners in Nigeria.
Rule 39 of our RPC declares that “a lawyer may engage in any advertisement or promotion in connection with his practice of the law”. How can BOSAN then prohibit Senior Advocates from any form of advertisement that promotes lawyer’s services. Rule 39 RPC clearly permits all lawyers in Nigeria to promote their services or businesses. And that is the right thing to do in 2025 civilization.
Before we enacted the RPC in 2007 which is now RPC 2023, the Bar held several workshops and debates at NBA annual conferences and agreed that it was time to advertise though with some restrictions. Late Justice Dr. Orojo who put up the initial draft that later became the RPC 2007 had, following this development included advertisement in the Rules. Rule 39 was copied from the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Model Rule of 1974. ABA has since made more progress on advertisement. 1974 is about 50 years ago! In the ABA current Model Rule 7.2- Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services, Rule 7.2(a) simply declares that “A lawyer may communicate information regarding the lawyer’s services through any media.” And the major limitation to the ABA model advertisement rule (apart from prohibiting payment to any person that recommends a lawyer’s service) is Rule 7.1 that declares that “A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services. A communication is false or misleading if it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law or omits a fact necessary to make the statement considered as a whole not materially misleading.”
Our Rule 39 that permits every lawyer to advertise in Nigeria is only limited by the following:
- The advertisement must be fair and proper in all circumstances – R 39(1)(a)
- The advertisement must not be inaccurate or likely to mislead- R 39(2)(a)
- It must not be likely to diminish public confidence in the legal profession, or administration of justice or otherwise bring the legal profession into disrepute- R 39(2)(b)
- It must not make comparison with or criticise other lawyers or other professions or professionals- R.39(2)(c)
- It cannot include statement about the quality of the lawyer’s work, the size or success of his practice or success rate- R.39(2)(d)
- It cannot be so frequent or obstructive as to cause annoyance to those to whom it is directed- R.39(2)(e)
- No lawyer can engage in any form of solicitation- R.39(3)
BOSAN’s notice bans what it calls “adulatory” publications. Adulatory, meaning “excessively praising “ will surely violate Rules 39(2)(d) and 39(3) of the RPC, but that is not the words of the RPC. The advertisement that is not permitted under the RPC is clearly spelt out by the Bar Council in our RPC.
The interesting thing in the BOSAN notice is that it seems that in banning advertisement by SANs, it still goes ahead to authorise advertisement via websites and social media so long as the advertisement is not “in a manner that is inconsistent with the principles and ethics of the legal profession”. The principles and ethics of the profession in relation to advertisement are clearly spelt out in the RPC. They are not imaginary. If you look through most lawyer’s websites including many SANs, they violate our rules on advertisement.
My advice is that the mentioned BOSAN Ethics Committee should take their member’s websites “one by one” and advise each person or firm. BOSAN cannot rewrite our Rules of Professional Conduct.
Prof Ernest Ojukwu, SAN
[email protected]
16th Jan 2025
