LPDC disbars lawyer accused of soliciting brief for Olanipekun’s law firm

The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) has struck off the name of Adekunbi Ogunde from the list of legal practitioners in Nigeria.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Akorede Lawal, confirming the development to PREMIUM TIMES on Friday, said Ms Ogunde was disbarred on Thursday after the LPDC found her guilty of soliciting for briefs on behalf of Wole Olanipekun’s law firm.

She was disbarred based on a petition the NBA filed against Ms Ogunde and Mr Olanipekun in July 2022.

Ms Ogunde was a partner in Mr Olanipekun’s law firm where she was accused in 2022 of soliciting for a brief from SAIPEM Contracting Nigeria Ltd, but the brief was already being handled by another lawyer Henry Ajumogobia.

In what was widely seen as a case of influence peddling, Ms Ogunde informed the prospective client, Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited, in a leaked memo, that the presence of Mr Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and lead partner of the law firm, “will significantly switch things” in favour of Sapiem.

But, Mr Olanipekun, a onetime president of the NBA and chair of the Body of Benchers, a regulatory body in Nigeria’s legal profession, denied knowledge of Ms Ogunde’s solicitation of the brief.

The law firm had also issued a disclaimer, saying Ms Ogunde was on her own.

Ms Ogunde had subsequently apologised for her action, adding that she wrote the letter without the authority of the law firm or knowledge of Mr Olanipekun.

Petition

The NBA, in its 19 July 2022 petition, urged the LPDC, the disciplinary body established by law to deal with lawyers’ acts of misconduct, “to immediately commence the disciplinary process and prosecute Ms Ogunde for alleged violation of the sacred provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct, particularly Rule 1.”

In the petition signed by the then 1st Vice President of the NBA, John Aikpokpo-Martins, the association also urged the LPDC to determine whether Mr Olanipekun and other partners of the firm “are not liable to be disciplined by this august body, seeing that the Respondent has the ostensible authority to act as a partner, and indeed acted for and on behalf of the said firm.”

However, the LPDC would exonerate Mr Olanipekun, his law firm and other partners in the law firm in August 2022.

Allegations

It will be recalled that Ms Ogunde, who authored the controversial letter to the Saipem group, soliciting legal representation on behalf of Wole Olanipekun and Co, admitted making “careless representations and inferences” in her letter of 20 June.

She said her references to Olanipekun and Co’s relationship with judges “could have been easily interpreted to mean that the firm could help secure some advantage in the court for Saipem.”

Retracting her allusion to influence peddling, Ms Ogunde said since joining Mr Olanipekun’s firm last December (2021), no staff member had “engaged in any unwholesome or unethical practices” to suggest that the firm can somehow ‘influence’ judicial outcomes by improper means.”

In the wake of the scandal, Ms Ogunde announced her decision to take a leave of absence from active legal practice to enable her to engage in community service and afford her the opportunity to clear her head of the mess.

The NBA had, after sending its petition to the LPDC, written to Mr Olanipekun urging him to step down from his position as the chair of the Body of Benchers. The association cited his association with Ms Ogunde as the grounds for asking him to step down.

A group of SANs under the auspices of the Justice Reform Project (JRP) had also backed the NBA’s call.

But despite the NBA’s call, Mr Olanipekun, in December 2022 in his capacity as the chair of the Body of Benchers, presided over the call-to-bar ceremony admitting new lawyers into the Nigerian bar.

Growing concerns over indiscipline

At a national summit on justice sector reform in Abuja on Thursday, lawyers and judges decried the “progressive decline” in the quality of legal education in Nigeria.

Yemi Akinseye-George, a law professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the foundation of growing indiscipline in the country’s legal profession began from law faculties where standards are being lowered through admission of students by “quota system.”

The chair of the justice sector summit planning committee, Babatunde Ajibade, a SAN, criticised the LPDC for failing to promptly hear and determine hundreds of pending complaints against lawyers over allegations of misconduct.

Contributing to the topic, ‘Discipline at the Bar and on the Bench – The case of Enhanced Disciplinary Powers, Performance, Management and Court Monitoring,’ Mr Ajibade recommended the setting up of multiple disciplinary panels of the LPDC across states in Nigeria.

He added that retired judges should be engaged to adjudicate on petitions of professional misconduct against lawyers.

A justice of the Supreme Court, Mohammed Lawal, said indiscipline at the Bar and the Bench robs the legal profession of trust amongst users of the justice sector.