THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, February 12, 2013
70 LAW
LawPeople
“Every disability conceals a vocation, if only we can find it, which will ‘turn the necessity to glorious gain.” C.S. Lewis
Profile By Bertram Nwannekanma RS. Folasade Sowemimo’s forage M to the legal profession was as a result of providence. As a daughter of a banker, the late Mr. Paul Adejube Kolade, a former Deputy Director at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), she had dreamt of a profession along the line of finance. Her upbringing at the CBN Quarters, Victoria Island, Lagos, where she experienced the high living standards provided by CBN for their management staffers, was also a major influence on her choice of career. Mrs. Sowemimo reminisces those experiences thus: “They made us a big happy family at the CBN official quarters. We had a great time as kids riding bicycles and having fun with other children. It was beautiful growing up”. However, the dream to become a banker fizzled out when she did not secure the required grade in the finance subject during her A Level days at the International School, University of Ibadan and was advised by the then principal to read law. Today, that decision has not only made her a successful commercial lawyer but an Amazon in international commercial arbitration. Mrs. Sowemimo is also one of the few Nigerian lawyers whose firm in United Kingdom handles high-profile international commercial matters. What finance lost, law has gained. Today, her intellectual prowess and international exposure has expanded the jurisprudence on the areas of commercial law, international commercial arbitrations and maritime law where she has marked her footprint. She said of the incident: “1976 was significant in my career because finance was no longer an option, however, my then principal, Cannon Iluyomade, counselled me to change my subjects to government, literature and economics so that I could read law. I re-sat my A Level in 1977 and read law at the University of Ife. The cannon played a pivotal role in that direction. My parents were supportive and my late father even said I should have studied law from the beginning, because I was a bit of talkative as a child. That is why and how I got into law and I am enjoying it and will not have thought of anything else”. Born over 50 years ago, Mrs. Sowemimo attended Queens School, Ibadan and International School for her A Level in 1974. In 1977, she was admitted to the University of Ife for her law programme. She met dedicated but young lecturers such as the then Dr. Gabriel Olawoyin, Dr. Itse Sagay and brother to her former principal, Mr. Iluyomade, who was to become the Ondo State Commissioner for Justice. These lecturers made her stay enjoyable. She cut her legal teeth at the law firm of Chief F.A. Akinbisehin (SAN), her father’s friend. The decision to join the firm was foundational to what she is today because Chief Akinbisehin had a corporate client base and was retained by several companies. Her tutelage with the law firm, having spent all her summer vacations working in the chambers, informed her choice of clientele on commencement of her practice later.
Sowemimo
Sowemimo: Amazon of international commercial arbitration She narrates her experience: “Whenever I left school, I was in his chambers. We did practically everything, from company to commercial law. But shortly after, I joined him after my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Chief Akinbisehin became a senator and that helped to launch me into practice. “Even after I started my practice, he never ceased to counsel and advise me. I literarily learnt the ropes of commercial law from him. He was a brilliant commercial lawyer”. Fola, as she is fondly called, started her legal practice in 1987, ably supported financially by her late father. In agreement with her husband, she converted their living room at Obanikoro to an office, which she sparsely furnished with her limited resources. The firm subsequently moved to Lagos Island. And as they say, “the rest is now history”. She now has three offices, Lagos, Abuja and United Kingdom. On her most challenging moment as a lawyer, Mrs. Sowemimo, who re-qualified as a Solicitor in United Kingdom as a result of her Nigerian
What finance lost, law has gained. Today, her intellectual prowess and international exposure has expanded the jurisprudence in the areas of commercial law, international commercial arbitrations and maritime law, where she has left her footprint.
clients’ involvement in many arbitration matters in England, Paris and Switzerland, said initially cases abroad were more challenging because the procedure there was different and very thorough and it took a while to learn the ropes. “The case law was different and the court system is more advanced and sophisticated than what obtains in Nigeria. “Being a black firm handling high value commercial matters without professional network presented challenges when it came to crossing certain barriers. “My qualification to represent my client was challenged on occasions initially being an unknown lawyer in certain legal circles. Some of these circumstances were most unpleasant,” she said. Mrs. Sowemimo, who has over 30 years experience at the Nigerian Bar and several years’ post-qualification in England, however, wants Nigerian government and established Nigerian companies to encourage and engage the legal services of overseas-based Nigerian lawyers with dual jurisdictional qualifications to develop our intellectual resource. According to her, foreign firms should no longer hold sway in the delivery of legal services to our government who should be committed to growing Nigerian legal resource worldwide. “We even proposed to develop a register of these firms abroad and make them available to all state and the Federal Governments in due course
because only a few Nigerian companies trust Nigerian firms prosecuting their cases abroad. “Government organisations and departments still prefer foreignowned firms even when we have Nigerians who have dual jurisdictional qualifications and understand the terrain. “I believe they should also instruct Nigerians, first and foremost, being nationals of this country. Nigerians understand legal issues that are peculiar to us. Even when we approach big organisations in Nigeria, the preference is still for the mega-city firms abroad to undertake their instruction”. An adorable person, Mrs. Sowemimo believes that government should start promoting Nigerian lawyers abroad by instructing them regularly since the legal system in United Kingdom allows for the engagement of experts in different areas when the need arises. “It is a disservice to Nigerian lawyers abroad and a near subservient mentality to continue to benefit from foreign firms exclusively with services that Nigerian lawyers can also pro-
vide. We need to protect our own and be seen to do so in pragmatic ways. I think it is time for us to make a concerted effort to do what is right for us”, she added. For improvement in the Nigeria’s legal practice, the revered lawyer also called for better regulation as it is done in England and Wales. “The activities of all lawyers should be monitored by both in-house counsels and those in private practice. A strict compliance regime should be introduced, monitored and enforced. Professional indemnity insurance for law firms should be introduced in order to protect the client. “Clients should be given client-care letters at the inception of instructions. They should be made aware of their right to complain about professional services received, their right to challenge the bill given them by their lawyers if they think it is excessive and their right to claim insurance if the need arises. “Client account of law firms should be audited by accountants registered by our regulatory body and client account reports for each firm should be submitted to our regulatory body. Our regulatory body should make sure firms are visited regularly to ensure compliance and that clients’ interests are protected all the time. “This will increase the confidence the public has in lawyers and improve our standard. “It might be necessary to carve out an independent regulatory authority from the Nigerian Bar Association that will oversee all the above and overhaul our Code of Conduct and professional ethics and see to its strict compliance by law firms. I am of the opinion that training contract for newly qualified Law School graduates should be introduced. Fresh Law School graduates should be attached to accredited law firms for a period of 12 months before their Call to Bar. “They should be paid by the firms during this period. This will better equip our young lawyers for practice and give them a well-rounded education even if they decide not to practice but work as an in-house counsel with a company”, she noted. Unlike many Nigerians, who built their law firms around their family, Mrs. Sowemimo, is more concerned in training worthy successors. She said: “I have good lieutenants, who probably would take over the chambers when I am gone. I have good juniors I have trained and have confidence in. It is not necessary that it must be your child that should take over the firm. I think we have to move away from that. To her, the idea of mentoring juniors is important so that they can expand the frontiers and enlarge the practice. Forming mega-firms with branches all over the world with loads of partners instead of building a family-oriented legal practice, she said, is the future. Married to the renowned Sowemimos of Abeokuta, she enjoys travelling as a form of relaxation. A highly religious person, who finds peace and assurance in God and dwells in the atmosphere of praise, Mrs. Sowemimo belongs to several professional associations such as the NBA, Nigerian Maritime Lawyers’ Association, Law Society England and Wales and several
Do you know… Lineage A direct line of descent. - Muojekwu v. Ejikeme [2000] 5 NWLR (Pt. 657) 402 at 434, [C.A.].