AN APPRAISAL OF THE ICT AND THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN NIGERIA

Law to an extent is literally unable to exercise its work without the use of adequate information. Information is indispensable for the effective practice of law. Indeed lawyers and information are Siamese twins that are inseparable.

A lawyer is identified by his ability to apply the law to facts in a given situation. This is to ensure he does not lose his case or cases which he ought to win on the merit of facts and law and on ground justice. By inference, he is expected to discharge his duties solely for the attainment of justice and fair play between opposing clients, and by so doing, lawyers operate on the basis of information especially when a case moves closer to the court room, where presentation of numerous pleadings, clients correspondence, memos and briefings are invariably required. Thus, gathering information at this point is crucial in respite of taking intelligent steps towards a cause of action.

The incorporation of Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) in the legal profession has therefore become a Modus operandi for Nigerian legal practitioners, so much that one cannot distinguish between ICT and the legal profession.

The term Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was first introduced in the early 1990s to replace Information Technology (IT) in recognition of the communication abilities and facilities offered by the computer. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a broad range of Technologies used for gathering, storing, retrieving, processing, analysing and transmitting information electronically in a digital form. They are digital infrastructures which aid the electronic manipulation of information for the purpose of business, governance, security and significantly for legal research.

Many developed countries have made significant use of the ICT in particular, the internet in providing a complete range of legal information and source materials. For instance, the legal information retrieving system was designed to guide a lawyer through the various possible issues in a case and also to help build up a profile of a case at hand. Like many other countries, Nigeria is not left out in the struggle to harness the full potential of the ICT for effective law practice and profession. In spite of the heated controversy over the admissibility of electronic generated document in evidence prior to the enactment of the new Evidence Act, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has for a long time engendered more constructive approach to the legal profession. It has radically improved practitioners’ professional developments through constant update of knowledge, accurate and reliable information and thereby facilitating the environment for effective legal development.

There is no gain saying, the fact that the future of law practice in Nigeria today has remain bright with the advent of a new legal analytic software called ‘law pavilion prime.’ This legal analytics software (law pavilion prime) was first unveiled at the “words in God” Judicial Award in Abuja, it comes to enhance legal practice in Nigeria and beyond. It helps lawyers to actually device legal opinion.

In the past of course, if one is researching a point, there would be the need to find out whether there were conflicts in the authorities. It was up to the researcher to find out or the need to research in legal textbooks may arise. However, the modern world has made it look easy. The usage of this particular software will enable one to know if there have been conflicts in the cause or not. According to Ope Olugasa, with law pavilion prime legal analytics, a lawyer is provided with a plethora of search result and he is actually given the correct answers every time.

The software calculates the law with predictive analysis. It gives you in-depth analysis of the strength and weaknesses of legal positions and authorities by generating a never before seen statistical analysis, historical data, precedential value rating, conflicting judgements, locus classicus, statutory or literary authorities and opinion,  judicial stand points of presiding judges and computer generated intelligence information on such authorities.

In spite of the foregoing analysis, it is crystal clear that the utilisation of the ICT in the Nigerian legal profession is still at a low level. Only but a few lawyers, law chambers and court systems have ICT infrastructures and the actual utilisation of legal software for law practice is extremely low. The challenge for Nigeria therefore, is to explore the uncommon opportunities presented by technological revolution to ensure a vibrant, responsive, sustainable and productive law practice and legal development in Nigeria.     

  

Author

Com. Ibrahim Babayidi Maikasuwa,

Faculty of Law, Nasarawa State University