NG Bar Final Professional Ethics case studies
NG Bar Final Professional Ethics · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Professional Ethics is one of the courses taught in the Bar Part II programme of the Nigerian Law School, listed on the School's own site alongside Criminal Law, Property Law and Corporate Law. Bar Part II is the vocational stage of Nigerian legal education: it follows the academic law degree and Bar Part I, and it is completed before a candidate is presented for Call to the Bar as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. The NG Bar Final Professional Ethics case studies are 5 cases and about 3,344 words.
1Two Accused, One Brief, Two Defences
You are the only counsel on record for two men, Musa and Emeka, jointly charged with armed robbery before the High Court of Kano State. Each has paid N750,000 of an agreed N1.5m fee; N600,000 remains outstanding on each brief.
685 words, about 3 min2The Cash Client and the Office Account
A client, Alhaji Bello, whom you have known for three years, brings N28m in two 'Ghana-must-go' bags to your chambers in Ikeja. He says it is part-payment for a property at Lekki priced at N95m; the seller is a company whose director he has never met; completion is 'in a few weeks'.
716 words, about 4 min3The Alibi That Was Invented on Sunday
You act for Chidi, charged with armed robbery before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The prosecution alleges that on 3 March he robbed a bureau de change at gunpoint; the CCTV is inconclusive.
653 words, about 3 min4'Twenty Percent for Every Client You Bring'
The managing partner of a three-lawyer firm in Port Harcourt proposes a growth plan: (i) pay property agents and 'consultants' 20% of every fee they bring in; (ii) run Instagram and Facebook adverts promising 'fast, guaranteed judgments' and quoting a client's testimonial naming her divorce case; (iii) employ a non-lawyer 'client relations officer' to interview new clients, take their statements and negotiate fees; (iv) open a 'legal desk' at a police station where the firm's clerk will 'advise' detainees and collect N20,000 'processing fees'; and (v) describe one partner on the firm's website as a 'specialist in criminal litigation, the best in the Niger Delta'. The firm's account is healthy but the partners are anxious about the Rules of Professional Conduct.
626 words, about 3 min5The Undertaking You Signed on Friday
You acted for Chief Ade, the purchaser of a property at Ikoyi. The seller's solicitors, Messrs Okoro & Co., released the title documents to you on your written undertaking to pay them N45m from the purchase price 'within ten working days of receipt of the funds and in any event not later than 30 September'.
664 words, about 3 min