The Nigerian Law Society has secured institutional membership of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, an international organisation promoting the rule of law and professional links among lawyers across Commonwealth jurisdictions.
The confirmation was conveyed in an email from the Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association in the United Kingdom, which formally confirmed the NLS as an institutional member of the association.
In a separate email, the CLA official also confirmed Dr Tonye Clinton Jaja as an institutional member of the association.
The development gives the NLS a formal institutional link with the CLA, which brings together law societies, bar associations and other legal institutions across Commonwealth jurisdictions.
The Commonwealth Lawyers Association said its institutional partnerships enable participating organisations to share legal developments from their jurisdictions and collaborate on events and training programmes.
The association said, “Through their membership of the Association, these institutions share in the work of the CLA by the sharing of news from their jurisdictions and the co-convening of events and training.”
According to our correspondent, the CLA’s membership framework provides for institutional membership for bar associations, law societies and law associations, among other legal institutions.
Its official records list the Nigerian Bar Association among its institutional partners alongside law societies and bar associations from countries, including Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Zambia and Sierra Leone.
The CLA said its core objective is to maintain and promote the rule of law throughout the Commonwealth by ensuring that an independent and efficient legal profession serves the people.
It added that it also seeks to strengthen professional links among members of the legal profession, maintain the honour and integrity of the profession and promote uniformity in professional ethical standards.
It disclosed that the association was established in 1986 after the need for an organisation focused on lawyers practising across the Commonwealth was identified, although its history is rooted in the Commonwealth Law Conference, whose first edition was held in London in 1955.
The CLA currently operates through regional hubs covering Africa, the Americas, Australasia and Europe and describes itself as a membership organisation for professional lawyers, academics and students practising within the Commonwealth.
Arewa PUNCH learnt that the confirmation of the NLS and Jaja’s membership, therefore, adds another Nigerian institutional and professional presence to the CLA’s membership structure.
The development also comes as the NLS seeks to expand its professional engagements and connections beyond Nigeria, with the CLA membership providing an avenue for participation in the association’s international legal network, training and professional activities.