[Reader-list] Tomorrow is Now- 201

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear All

This piece below, presents a view from Africa on coding of personal
identities of Lawyers to distinguish people with 'fake' law degrees
from the real lawyers.

Please have a look at this extremely pertinent scenario for more.

Warm regards

Taha


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=151832

Tomorrow is Now
08.17.2009

Imagine you are sitting in the court room waiting for your matter to
be called. It's all quiet as everyone is waiting for His Lordship's
ruling on a case. There is some movement at the back, a late arrival
is trying to find room to sit. Suddenly, lights begin to flash, alarms
go off and a steel cage descends from the ceiling and encases His
Lordship�s bench. A tiny electronic voice repeats over and over again
�intruder alert, fake lawyer in court�.
Admittedly, this scenario is the result of this reporter�s
overindulgence in Sci-fi movies but if  the DBI consortium is to be
believed, fiction and reality may not be so disparate anymore.
The legal profession is referred to as a �noble� one. It is steeped in
tradition and members of this elite brotherhood are expected to
conduct themselves in a seemly manner. Apart from the academic
qualifications, those who would be called to the bar must be certified
by senior members of the bar and bench as being fit and proper persons
to be admitted to the Nigerian Bar.
It is extremely alarming therefore that this supposed bastion of
integrity and orderliness has been besieged by impostors. The problem
of fake lawyers has reared its ugly head consistently and despite
steps taken to deal with it, the fraudsters appear to grow only more
ingenious.
In August 2009 alone, there have been six reported cases of fake
lawyers caught in the very act in various parts of the country. One
Mr. Adegboyega Adeniran, who had been holding himself out as a legal
practitioner since 1992, was only recently discovered in Ibadan whilst
appearing in a civil matter. The fake lawyer was identified by
opposing counsel in court. Apparently, his qualifications or lack
thereof had become notorious. Honourable Justice Ayinla Gbolagunte,
before whom he appeared, demanded that he present his licence, which
he could not. He was sentenced to two years in prison with hard labour
in keeping with Section 22 of the Legal Practitioners Act.
Another, one Gideon Brown, was apprehended whilst appearing on behalf
of a client who is currently an inmate at KiriKiri Prison in Lagos. He
allegedly received the sum of N50,000 from the inmate for his
services.
The most alarming report however, is that of a fake lawyer who had
practiced for so long and had become so brazen that he ran for, and
was elected into office as an executive member of an NBA branch in
Lagos.
Cases such as this, erode the implicit trust which a legal
practitioner ought to inspire in clients; old and prospective.
Observers might hasten to classify this as a Nigerian problem but
reports show that it is not. In India, in 2004, the Punjab and Haryana
Bar Council found that 40 lawyers who had applied for practicing
licences held fake law degrees. More recently, two fake immigration
lawyers were arrested in New York. The two men were indicted on
charges of grand larceny, scheming to defraud, practicing or appearing
as an attorney-at-law without being admitted to the bar and registered
as a lawyer, and violating the Immigration Assistance Services Law.
If the fake lawyer detection system (FLDS), fondly referred to as
�FLAWED��, were in operation, impersonating a lawyer would be
impossible. Sadly, FLAWED is still the figment of our imagination.
Bar Associations all over the world have taken various steps to tackle
the issue. In Long Island, New York, lawyers repeatedly called for a
review of state legislation which classifies impersonation of a legal
practitioner as a misdemeanour, believing that stiffer punishment
would deter would-be impersonators.
In india, the Bar Association recommended a verification exercise to
ensure that the lawyers in practice held authentic credentials. This
would involve physically checking all the records of lawyers applying
for licences and those already in practice. Not surprisingly, there
were several references to dusty tomes and the inconvenience of the
exercise.
However, the Nigerian Bar Association may have found the most
ingenious and effective means of curtailing the problem for good.
Last week Friday, August 14 2009, at a press conference held at the
NBA Secretariat in Lagos, the Digital Bar Initiative (DBI) was
launched. The DBI consortium is made up of the Technology Advisors,
Apace Innovative Solutions and Intel with technical support from
Chams.
To combat the problem of identifying the real lawyers in Nigeria, the
DBI has developed a unique bar card. This card, which will incorporate
biometric data of the holder, will also have a unique number. In
addition, the DBI intends to develop a portal on which lawyers will
conduct transactions using their unique identification numbers. The
Bar Card is similar to that issued to lawyers by the Bar Association
of England and Wales. The difference being that the English version
does not have biometric data and is not proof that the bearer is
indeed licensed to practice law.
The Nigerian Bar Card is innovative on several levels and in
particular, persons dealing with Nigerian lawyers in the future, can
rely on the Bar card as evidence of the lawyer�s licence to practice.
Mr. Basil Udotai of Technology Advisors told THISDAY LAWYER, �the
Digital Bar Initiative aims to create a TRUST platform around the
legal community in Nigeria�.
In the future, lawyers will also be able to pay practicing fees and
conclude other transactions, using the DBI portal.
The objectives of the Initiative are, simply put, to identify, equip
and connect lawyers in Nigeria.
All lawyers will be required to appear at the enrolment booths to be
set up all over the country and present their certificates for
registration and issuance of the bar card. According to the members of
the consortium, the expected wait period at any of the enrolment
booths should be no longer than 5 minutes.
NBA President, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu had stated as guest columnist last
week in THISDAY LAWYER that the portal would be linked to several
other online systems giving lawyers access to information from the
Corporate Affairs Commission and Land Registries amongst others. He
said, �I expect that all lawyers will key in and take advantage of it
as a first step towards transforming ourselves and our practice as the
lawyers of tomorrow.
Gentlemen, tomorrow is today!