It’s tough to evaluate monetary value of criminal cases – Fashola

Thu, Jul 19, 2018 | By publisher


Politics

THE convener of ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards, Lere Fashola, says the difficulty in evaluating the monetary value of criminal cases is one reason the award, which celebrates outstanding Nigerian law firms and practitioners, keeps its focus on commercial law practitioners.

He explained that the sole aim of the award is to reward lawyers whose works contribute directly to the country’s economic growth.

Besides, he said since judges for the awards are mainly foreigners, exhibiting some of the trends in the Nigerian criminal justice system might amount to washing the country’s dirty linen in public.

Fashola, however, said he would not be surprised if some corruption cases get nominated for this year’s edition of the award.

He said this last week in Lagos at a press conference to invite entries for the 2018 edition of the ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards, billed to hold on November 4.

The entries for the awards, he said, opened in March and will be closing on August 15, adding that the awards cover only woks done in the past 12 to 18 months.

“The panel of judges will be looking for entries which focus on a single deal that sets new standards in the delivery of legal services under the various categories and demonstrates the market-leading position and considerable value to the needs of commerce, good governance and economic well-being of the nation,” he said.

Fashola, while encouraging practitioners and law firms to visit www.esq-law.com/award to enter for the awards, stressed that “no payment is attached to nominations for any of the categories,” adding that “the decision of the judges is final.”

Apart from the regular categories, the ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards, which is in its sixth year, will in 2018 reward 40 outstanding young lawyers under the age of 40, as opposed to last year when Senior Advocates of Nigeria were so celebrated.

Fashola said, “The rising stars are young lawyers, who exemplify distinction and quality service delivery and demonstrate superior leadership, reputation, influence, stature and profile as Nigerian lawyers.”

Asked why the award does not recognise lawyers who handle criminal cases, Fashola said, “It’s not as if criminal-related cases cannot be nominated for the award. Last year, Wole Olanipekun & Co. won an award; the case that they submitted had both civil and criminal elements. But they were able to resolve the dispute within a short time with a lot of innovations.

“So, it’s not like we are not looking at criminal cases too; I envisage that this year, we are going to have some of these corruption cases being submitted; but then, it’s tough to judge criminal cases in terms of the monetary value.

“And again, the kind of judgments that we’re seeing from the criminal courts, to send those to international judges to evaluate, it may be painting the country in bad light. So, we’re wary of sending some of these cases. The international judges will not even find it interesting.” – Punch

– Jul. 19, 2018 @ 10:15 GMT

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