Stakeholders call for digital training for lawyers

Stakeholders have called on law firms to train lawyers on digitalization to enable them to meet up with the present-day demands. Meanwhile, young lawyers were tasked with skills development beyond the law curriculum so as to remain relevant in the scheme of things.

The call was made at a one-day innovation and technology law summit with a theme, ‘Ensuring an Enabling Environment for Digital Innovation’ held in Lagos.

The Managing Director, ESQ Training, Lere Fashola, noted that firms have been less interested in training their lawyers but would rather send them for a summit.

“I have spoken to a lot of Senior Advocates for the past two years and I noticed that they have no interest in training their lawyers”, he said.

Convener of the summit, Chuma Akana, in his remarks, noted that technology is a tool for development in Africa and as such, should be given the right attention.

He called on lawyers to be technology-focused by making efforts to understand the requirements of the field.

“Technology is opening up opportunities for lawyers. So, we should not see it as distraction but opportunities, and seek methods to leverage it in building the economy”, he said.

According to him, the problem with regulations is inadequate knowledge of the field being regulated.

“The problem is that the laws don’t understand these businesses. We cannot regulate what is not known because that could limit growth. So, there need to be consultations and engagements”, Akana said.

Noting that burdensome regulation can stifle innovation, he expressed needs for government to enable technology by creating the right environment for business to thrive.

Founder, Publiseer, Chidi Nwaogu, noted that digital distribution is a major challenge among technology companies

“Digital distribution works in and out of our favour. It works in our favour because we are allowed to innovate but the downside is that there is no defense in cases where things go wrong”, he said.