ESQ Legal Practice Magazine JUNE 2014 EDITION | Page 76

Let's focus on Globalisation
and the consolidation of
today's legal market and
Practice; how does this affect
Nigeria?
Just as globalisation has
affected almost every other
human activity, its effects on
the legal profession in Nigeria
cannot but be felt. In stating its
effect on the legal market we
must recognise the fact that
the legal profession has
always had its international
dimension. This is in the sense
that businesses have always
operated across borders. For
instance, the ship owner in
Alang in India whose vessel
has been chartered to bring
cargo to the port of Lagos,
Nigeria may be involved in
litigation in the Nigerian court
by the receiver of the cargo in
Nigeria for any damage to the
cargo for instance. What
appears to be undisputable is
that globalisation has brought
about a significant increase in
business interactions which, as
could have been expected, has
in turn engendered an
increase in the number of such
disputes and the need to
engage expert on Nigerian
law. This is why increasingly
when you read decisions from
other jurisdictions, most
especially decisions of the
English Court, you gather
from some of these judgments
that evidence has been given
on issues of the Nigerian Law
in contention in such case.
This sort of evidence is usually
given by Practitioners, who
are barristers and solicitors of
the Nigerian Supreme Court.
Interestingly, the impact of
Globalisation on the legal
market has even been felt on
non commercial disputes like
matrimonial disputes. It seems
that more women now select
England as their preferred
forum for the hearing of their
petition for the dissolution of
their marriages, most
especially where the man is a
man of substance. Cases like
Otobo v. Otobo and more
recently Prest v Prest readily
comes to mind.
It will also be recalled that the
registration and enforcement
of judgments obtained abroad
in Matrimonial Causes are
regulated by a different legal
regime namely section 81 of
the Matrimonial causes Act, as
opposed to foreign judgments
in commercial cases which are
governed by the provisions of
the other Reciprocal
Enforcement of Judgment
Legislation.

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