By Our Reporter
ABUJA (PRECISE POST) -The Senate has begun consideration of a landmark bill seeking to repeal and reenact the Legal Practitioners Act, in what is positioned as the most sweeping reform of Nigeria’s legal profession in six decades.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Senate Leader, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), said the proposed Legal Practitioners Act, 2025, would modernise the regulation of legal practice in line with global standards and contemporary realities.
Bamidele noted that the existing law — enacted nearly 60 years ago — was designed for a legal system “that no longer exists,” given today’s technology-driven legal processes, complex commercial transactions and rising public demand for accountability.
He stressed that the bill offers a rare opportunity to overhaul the legal profession in line with reforms implemented in jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and Kenya.
A major highlight of the bill is the restructuring of the Body of Benchers, which for the first time will be formally empowered as Nigeria’s apex regulatory authority for legal practice. The reforms include granting the Body of Benchers corporate legal personality, financial autonomy, a strengthened secretariat, clear rule-making authority and a modernised committee structure.
Bamidele also underscored the urgent need to fix the “slow and ineffective” disciplinary system for legal practitioners. The bill, he said, restructures the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) by:
- creating multiple disciplinary panels nationwide;
- granting expanded sanction powers, including suspension, striking-off, restitution, compensation and formal apologies;
- mandating publication of disciplinary outcomes for transparency; and
- giving lawyers the right of appeal to the Supreme Court.
The proposed legislation also establishes a new Ethics, Adherence and Enforcement Committee, empowered to inspect law offices, demand documents, investigate public complaints, enforce compliance and prosecute misconduct cases before the LPDC.
Other key innovations include:
- mandatory two-year pupilage for newly called lawyers, except in approved cases;
- compulsory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for licence renewal;
- criminalisation of unauthorised legal practice to curb impostors and protect the public;
- regulation of foreign lawyers;
- reform of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) rank; and
- stronger client protection and financial safeguards.
Describing the bill as the most comprehensive attempt to reform the profession, Bamidele urged lawmakers to support its second reading.
“This Bill strengthens discipline, enhances competence, protects clients, supports young lawyers and restores public confidence in Nigeria’s justice system,” he said.
