The CJN had directed lawyers and court officials to immediately stop using “Barrister” as a prefix to their names in official engagements at the Supreme Court.
The directive was contained in a July 13, 2026 memo signed by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Kabir Akanbi, and addressed to legal practitioners, court registrars and other lawyers.
According to the NLS Executive Director, Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja, the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962, recognises the titles “Barrister” and “Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria” for lawyers who have been called to the Bar.
Jaja, however, acknowledged that using only “Barrister” could be considered incomplete because it excludes the title “Solicitor,” but argued that the recommended alternative of “Esquire” is also not expressly provided for in the law.
“The problem with this recommended title of ‘Esquire’, or even other alternatives ‘Barrister-At-Law’ or ‘Attorney-At-Law’ is that they do not appear inside the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962,” he said.
He argued that neither the CJN, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) nor the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) could impose regulations on Nigerian lawyers concerning matters that are not expressly provided for in the Legal Practitioners Act.
The NLS also criticised what it described as an inconsistency in the treatment of professional titles, particularly the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (SCN).
Jaja argued that it would be contradictory for authorities to oppose the use of the SCN title on the grounds that it is not expressly recognised in the Legal Practitioners Act while permitting lawyers to use “Esquire,” which is also not contained in the statute.
“The Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, SCN, is not stated inside the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962. This is the more reason why neither the NBA nor the LPPC has any powers of regulation over the Blue Silks rank,” he said.
He further accused the CJN and LPPC of contradiction for attempting to prohibit “Barrister,” which he said is expressly recognised by law, while recommending alternatives that are not contained in the same legislation.
Jaja also described the treatment of different professional titles as discriminatory, citing Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution.
He noted that the rank of King’s Counsel (KC), which Nigeria inherited from the British legal tradition and later adapted as Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was itself not originally established by Nigerian legislation.
According to him, the KC tradition dates back to the 1500s in the United Kingdom, with the rank historically conferred by the Crown on distinguished lawyers.
Jaja therefore maintained that the absence of a title from a specific statute does not automatically make its use unlawful.
He argued that the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, conferred by the Nigerian Law Society and the Body of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (BOSCON), derives its authority from guidelines made pursuant to Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 19 of the National Assembly Service Commission Act, 2014.
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