Steve Aya
Law firms and employers of young Lawyers have been told to think of how to attract and keep young Lawyers happy, not just thinking of how to retain them.
This was the general view of most of the participants and the panel of discussants, who attended and spoke at the 15th Annual SPA Ajibade Business Luncheon.
The hybrid event which took place at their office at Martins Street, Lagos, with the theme ‘Talent Retention, Challenges and the Future of Legal Practices in Nigeria’ , had participants speaking from their hearts about the burning issue of Lawyers leaving the country or leaving the practice of law all together for something else.
Leading the panel discussion, Mrs Abimbola Akeredolu, SAN, traced the issue of movement of Nigerians to other countries of the world to as far back as the President Ibrahim Babangida’s regime, but added that she does not believe that the bleeding in the law sector can be compared to that of the health sector, as Doctors are leaving the country daily.
Professor Ernest Ojukwu, SAN, in his submission stated that most of the young Lawyers coming out of Law School do not have an idea of what to do, and that out of the 700 newly graduated Lawyers, only about 500 will end up as Lawyers, and after about five years the number of those still in law practice will still go down to about 250.
Other discussants, Miss Aderinsola Fagbure, Miss Yimika Adesola and Mr Godwin Amadi, all place the problem of recruiting talented Lawyers and keeping them, to factors like mismatch in some skill set, salaries, the challenging nature of the work environment, flexible working environment, relationship with senior partners, structure of the firm, workplace abuse, sexual abuse, health (mental health), culture of work place amongst others thing are factors that most talented Lawyers look out for in a work place, and these factors are also what is considered when it comes to decision as to either stay in a firm or walk away.
The call by Miss Adesola for Universities to have open session cancelling with students to discuss their option as regards career paths, was accepted by all.
Earlier on, two polls were conducted for online viewers where over 90% agreed with the question ‘Do you think there are challenges with retaining talent in the legal profession’ and the second being ‘Do you think the Nigerian Law School prepares Law students for self employment, a question which 83% answered No too.
