LAWYERS IN THE DOCK By Lekan Daramola Esq.

Ordinarily, as you entered the Court, you'd have thought that they were accused persons, nay privileged ones as they were all sitting. But yet the toga of criminality couldn't have been taken away from them, as they were all sitting in the dock!

Dock ordinarily, is a place meant for the accused persons in the courtroom. According to the Black's Law Dictionary, the dock refers to the enclosure, in a criminal court, in which the prisoner is placed during trial. But alas, it became a place for no other set of persons than Lawyers - Barristers and Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.!

Why did the honourable, gentlemen of the bar have to sit in the dock? They were neither charged for any criminal conduct nor were they being kept there in lieu of their clients. They had to sit there because there were no seats for them at the bar!

On the fateful day, 5th November, 2008 there were 52 cases before Candide - Johnson, J, of the Ikeja High Court. Apparently, you should expect about 100 Lawyers in Court at the rate of 2 per case i.e. one each for Claimant and Defendant respectively.

Unfortunately however, there were less than 60 seats in the courtroom. The number is inclusive of the 6 for the inner bar mainly meant for SANs, and about 6 that were bad.

As the Lawyers were not sure of when their matters would be called, they awaited their turns eagerly. Hence, while some could find seats, others stood up, while about 5 Lawyers found themselves seats in the dock. Hence, they became accused persons, momentarily!

Knowing the implication of such act they would not have been so seated, but they had no choice. According to some of them, afterall, it's better than standing up throughout the proceedings of the day. Among the Lawyers who witnessed this scene were Ayo Olanrewaju, Olasupo Ojo and Victor Kolade.

We suggest that the issue of availability of seats in the High courtrooms should be taken seriously by the authorities that be, to avoid the type of embarrassing scene painted above.

The situation gets more worrisome as, faced with similar scenario recently. Marsh, J, had to enlist the support of the NBA Ikeja branch Chairman, Dave Ajetunmobi Esq. to assist him in appealing to the relevant authorities to ensure that comfortable seats are made available to Lawyers in court. Though the chairman promptly rushed to the C.J's office, no succour has come the way of the Lawyers yet. Hope somebody is listening now?