Distinguished Colleagues,
We are having to
co-ordinate on Facebook two platforms
this one here and the other RULES WATCH where the Lord Onnoghen’s celebrated
directives was post simultaneously for wider reach to our dear readers.
On this platform I like to
acknowledge a great American, Professor Lynn Fraser approved our CJN’s directives.
Many may not know her, she is a first class US Attorney. She taught me in
Georgetown University Law Center DC LL.M., a course in International human
rights law.
Abiodun Adeyanju Esq also
contributed, he is a Nigerian Lawyer now
a senior staff of the Federal High Court.
Over two decades our
colleagues hailed someone as the Dame of the Nigerian Bar. This came about in
2001 at the International Bar Association Conference in Cancun Mexico I was at
a session on discriminatory practices in the profession and Professor Mensah South
African was on a panel and I put the question to him Sir how do you address lawyers in your jurisdiction and he said “Ladies”
female lawyers and “gentlemen” for male
lawyers and I said in my jurisdiction they say there are no ladies at the bar
and so address all as “gentlemen of the bar” and he said that is bad conduct
and had been discarded. He said when you
return home endeavor to ‘preach the gospel’.
Back home I wrote a few
articles in the law pages of Thisday, Guardian and Vanguard etc and carried out
a campaign such that when my colleagues say there are no ladies at the bar I would
often pushback in saying “I AM THE DAME OF THE BAR”.
ESQ is used in professional
circles connotes same mode as President,
Ambassador, Ministers in the temple of justice – without gender coloration. Kindly shake off the negative soundtrack that
suffix ESQ for ladies means you are no
longer a learned lady– you are a professional lady who takes the same suffix as
a learned man as long as you remain in a profession of learnedness; let us
enamour learned ladies. Re-stating the
horror of learned ladies who get often asked in court “ are you Miss or Mrs” is
no use, I have spoken enough on that & will now rest.
Respectfully submitted
Carol Ajie ESQ
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