'Good and ugly sides of charge-and-bail lawyers' By Kayode Ketefe

“CHARGE-and-bail.” This is a phrase many Nigerians use derisively to refer to a section of the practitioners of the legal profession. Not many Nigerians understand what it really means, though they use it pejoratively to refer to some lawyers. A simple opinion poll of about 20 people conducted preparatory to writing this article showed that while the majority had an idea of what the phrase really connoted in the legal parlance, many others did not know it.

For example, one respondent said such lawyers were persons who applied for bail for those charged with criminal offences. Another respondent (who holds a first degree in political science) says the phrase refers to “any lawyer that does not have money.” Now if the phrase applies to those who apply for the bail of accused persons, then all lawyers will definitely come under it. Even for those who know what the phrase means, their idea hardly extends beyond the conception as the practice by some lawyers of directly soliciting for clients in the court premises. But a charge-and-bail lawyer does much more than this.

What is charge-and-bail practice? This refers to the practice of some lawyers who operate without an office. They are ‘chamberless’ lawyers whose modus operandi involves directly soliciting for clients in total disregard of the rules of professional conduct, which forbid lawyers from engaging in all kinds of open advertisement of their services. But that is not all. A ‘charge-and-bail lawyer loiters in the court premises of the inferior courts, specifically magistrate courts, and awaits the arrival of the police, hoping that the police would bring some accused persons who do not have lawyers to defend them. The moment this happens, the lawyer would offer his service either directly to the accused persons, or through his relatives who follow him to court, after a certain meager fee is paid. The lawyer will appear before the magistrate and orally apply for bail, which in most cases would be granted if the offence(s) is a bailable one.

But the court premises is not the only “abode” of a charge-and-bail lawyer. He is not a stranger to police stations either. Many of them fraternize with police officers in different police stations for the purpose of referral of clients. The officers have their phone numbers and would summon them in the twinkling of an eye if any accused requires the service of a lawyer. The police officers, of course, get a fraction of the fees, which, in most cases, is pre-determined by the lawyer.

Another striking feature of these lawyers is that they are only interested in procuring bails and getting paid for it; they don’t go for the proper trial which, in a sense, may be a blessing to the accused since these lawyers rarely know enough of procedural or substantive law to effectively defend the accused persons. They do not like the process of understudying a principal, or that of the trial and error of a self-reliant disciplined practitioner. All they are interested in is to get a bail for one accused person after the other and watch with amusing delight as their pockets keep growing bigger. They are “famous” for making use of touts in the court premises. They engage the touts to bring them to court potential clients whom they may be too ashamed to approach themselves.

A senior lawyer and publisher of a law magazine, SQUIB, Mr. Adesina Ogunlana, said, “A charge-and-bail practitioner can be likened to a roadside mechanic. While other mechanics operate from their workshops and take delivery of vehicles there, a roadside mechanic operates in a more humble arena. A charge-and-bail practitioner belongs to the lowest rung of the legal profession.

“Unlike a roadside mechanic, however, he is not only operating in a humble sphere, he is tarnishing the exalted image of the profession. Lawyers are supposed to sit in their chambers and await clients, not under the trees in the court premises. Here (at Ikeja High Court), we derisively call them resident lawyers! Why? It is because they spend all their lives in the court premises, using the tree shades as their chambers and their briefcases as their tables!”

a magistrate, who preferred anonymity, said, “Charge-and-bail practice is not limited to Nigeria; it is also known in United States as ‘ambulance chasing’ and refers to the category of lawyers who abandon the natural conservative attitude of lawyers to poke nose into potential litigation matters with a view to landing the brief for themselves. It is a problem here as in the US, and it is simply unethical.”

When this writer was at the Nigerian Law School, one of the tips of behavioral etiquette the lecturers kept hammering on was that “No matter your situation, conduct yourself with utmost dignity. Even if you don’t have money, mind your appearance, wear a clean suit, be polished in your manners and project an overall image of a decent, respectable person.

This is the calling of your profession.” Why then do some lawyers choose the charge-and-bail practice after spending about six to seven years to get the Bachelor of Law and Barrister-at-Law certificates? Reactions obtained by our correspondents to this question varied. In his response, the Chief Registrar of the Lagos State Judiciary, Mr. Afeez Dabiri, attributed the charge-and-bail practice to greed and lack of ambition.

“These kind of practitioners do not like to endure (tough situations). The practitioners don’t like to operate from chambers and slowly build their reputation. Instead, they want quick money, and they get it, but that is all what they get: small money here and there. That is why they don’t grow. Day-in-day-out, they keep doing the same thing over and over, while they remain as small-time operators,” Dabiri said.

“But the sad thing about it is the way they go about casting aspersion on the profession. They are a shame. Many of them lack ambition to progress. That is why you would see some of them who manage to make big money still continuing in that kind of practice.

“But it is not only the profession they are hurting; they are also debarring their own progress. You would rarely see a charge-and-bail lawyer being appointed a judge or Senior Advocate of Nigeria.”

The Chairman of the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Niyi Idowu, described charge-and-bail lawyers as “impatient lawyers who look only at today, but not tomorrow. Many of them started their trade when they were bachelors and their wants were limited. The legal training is not cheap and no lawyer has the right to cheapen himself. Most of them later regret it in their lives because once your clients know you as a charge-and-bail lawyer, they will continue to regard you as such. The same client that patronises you for inconsequential matters will take their case to a more serious lawyer if they have important matters.

The Head of the Penal Reforms Department of a non-governmental organization, the Civil Liberties Organisation, Mr. Princewill Akpakpan, said, “Charge-and-bail practice is an ethically reprehensible brand of legal practice, which some lawyers stubbornly engage in despite the fact that the rule forbids it. In my own view, these lawyers are short-sighted and unambitious. They are satisfied with the daily peanuts they get from their clients. No corporate organization will approach them for services because they know next to nothing about the law.”

Ogunlana agued that charge-and-bail lawyers were ignorant of the law. “Of course, what amount of law do you think a person whose daily routine is to go to the magistrate court to say, ‘Your Worship, I apply for the bail for the accused person in most liberal terms’ would know? They don’t know anything.

Another lawyer, Mr. Abiodun Durojaiye said, “These brand of so-called lawyers refuse to develop themselves. Imagine the case of a well-trained and qualified medical doctor, who gets himself engaged as a contractor, who only supplies a particular injection to a number of corporate organizations. Day-in-day-out, year-after-year, the only thing he does is to supply the said drug. He never engages in any substantive medical practice. If you are in a condition of crisis, will you allow yourself or your child to be treated by such a doctor? To me, such a person is only a titular doctor. In essence, he is a businessman. This is why I will call on our people that whenever you or any of your people are in a police net and the police say, ‘Do you need a lawyer? We will get one for you,’ always refuse because the lawyer the police officers will link you with could be any of these charge-and-bail lawyers, and they don’t know the law.”

Durojaiye did not conclude his contribution without a salvo. He said, “With the exception of a few, the majority of the ‘charge-and-bail practitioners are shabby in appearance and look anything but prosperous. So, the tag of “a lawyer” on them seems like a golden ring in the ears of a pig.”

If the impression is that all charge-and-bail lawyers are poor, then what a charge-and-bail lawyer interviewed by our correspondent had to say will shock many. The lawyer, who preferred anonymity, plies his trade at the Iyaganku Magistrate Court in Ibadan, Oyo State. He claimed to be above 10 years at the bar. He said apart from living in his own house, he had three cars. “Let me tell you that I don’t believe in any lawyer being branded charge-and-bail. We are all graduates of law, we are all graduates of the prestigious Nigerian Law School. We are practicing the law. Why should people stigmatise us because we take our service to where it is needed?”

When our correspondent reminded him of Article 33 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which forbids any form of direct advertisement by lawyers, he said, “Yes, it depends on the way you look at it. When people are brought from different stations to the court early in the morning, we are the only ones on ground to attend to them. All these lawyers who claim to be operating from chambers come to court already engaged to files they brought to court and are therefore not available.

Don’t let anybody deceive you. Some people must attend to those other matters as a matter of urgency…we are taking legal service to where it is needed. What have we done that is bad or unethical in that?”

How much do all these chambers we have in the cities pay to lawyers? Yet we are responsible adults who have roles to play. We have obligations to meet. If we have something to sell, are we going to refrain from selling it on the grounds that the service could be better and more expensively sold from chambers?

“The problem with critics is that they are looking at us as rivals; they think we are spoiling their game because we are selling the service cheaper than they would rather sell it. But as for us, survival comes first. Please ask all our critics how much they pay to the lawyers under them. I know of a Senior Advocate in Lagos who pays N15, 000 per month each to the lawyers in his chamber. How much is N15, 000 to somebody who has spent seven years to become a lawyer?”

but Ogunlana did not agree that being a charge-and-bail practitioner was the solution. He blamed a lot of fraudulent practices among lawyers on the activities of the charge-and-bail lawyers. He said, “Many of them have no shame. There is nothing too lowly and unethical they cannot engage in because of money.

“They are the ones who provide professional sureties in court to get undeserved bail for accused persons. We have recorded among them the highest incidence of fake lawyers who dupe unsuspecting clients. They are the ones who make it possible for another category of people, the fake lawyers, to operate.

“If you claim to be a lawyer and you don’t have any office, is it no more possible for you to be fraudulent? The fake lawyers find it more convenient to imitate them. Is it not easy for somebody to say ‘oh yes, I am a lawyer, but I don’t have a chambers, just meet me in the court?” he queried.

Speaking on the measures to curb the incidence of charge-and-bail practice, the President of the Edo Lawyers Association, Lagos Chapter, Chief Sola Ojeriakhi, said, “It is difficult to check this kind of practice. This is because those involved are principally lawyers like us who have been called to the Nigerian Bar. You cannot really stop them from practicing like that. However, because of the fact that the majority of them operate in conflict with the rules, the NBA can sanction them. Furthermore, the judiciary, specifically, the Chief Judge of each state, can make rules that will make it difficult, if not impossible for charge-and-bail practitioners to operate. For example, the CJ can state rules to exclude anybody that does not have business in court from loitering around. Besides, the NBA can refuse to deal with any lawyers except through his chambers.”


CULLED FROM SUNDAY PUNCH, DECEMBER 30, 2007