Legal experts task aspiring lawyers on capacity building

Prominent legal practitioners have charged aspiring lawyers to shun materialism and build competence for career enhancement. They made the charge in Lagos last week during a capacity building programme for final year law students of the University of Lagos.

The event was organised by Stephen Legal, a firm that provides informative legal insights and seeks to inspire young lawyers to find the right legal balance through reliable information.

Principal Partner, M.J Onigbanjo & Co, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) advised young lawyers to avoid money madness if they must build a career that will stand the test of time.

“Your dedication to work is more important than any monetary enablement,” he said. Onigbanjo encouraged the students to set goals that will fuel their passion for the legal profession.

“Talent is not good enough, goals must be added to enhance talent. No matter how hard it is, develop a passion for the rule of law, because your passion is the compass that drives you towards making choices that suit your preferences,” he counselled.

Convener and founder, Stephen Legal, Stephen Azubuike said the idea behind the programme is to keep law students informed on a number of vital issues as they aim to come into the society in pursuit of their career goals and objectives.

“While acquiring sound academic background remains important, it is also necessary to build capacity in non-academic aspects hence as part of our mentoring objectives at Stephen Legal, we seek to volunteer a yearly informative session for Final Year Law Students of various Faculties of Law in Nigeria at different intervals.

“In a society of limited job opportunities and highly competitive legal industry, gaining an extra edge by way of capacity building is extremely important,” he said. Head of Legal, Sterling Bank Plc, Justina Lewa said lawyers must find an area of speciality for effective work delivery.“Know your strength and identify your weakness, focus and work on your strength,” Lewa said.

According to her, the Nigerian law school curriculum is outdated, hence law students should not focus on their school curriculum alone.“Be independent minded. Legal research and basic I.T skill is key in carving a niche in the legal profession,” she stressed.