I am quite impressed by some of these 9ja law firms. Does anybody have any idea about earnings?

One of the best naija law blogging site http://pedestrianlawyer..com/

By the way, this post is really impressive. I must admit that i did not know much about the legal services in naija but this has opened my mind. Poster, thanks for this post. In order to make it better, you might want include the websites of those law firms.

no body wants to answer the pay matter?
i guess that is where this thread will disintegrate.
my little survey shows that low firms pay very poorly.
you only earn above decent salaries when you become a partner and this rarely happens in nigerian firms.
that is relatively.

tkb417:

i know Bisi too
quiet gurl

my homeboi is in tht firm
Ojuawo. maybe he can arrange those chicks for awon boiz

@ TBK417 you know kehinde ojuawo?OAU(law),Univ of newcastle M.sc?!!!!!!!!its such a small world oh,he is my home boi!

Sagamite:

Who told you I was looking for Miss World?

Abeg, that girl is cute and her looks engage me (gives me an impression you can have a good conversation with her, not some airhead barbie that only wants to read daft magazines about celebrities). She is the type I will like to see a smile on her face on a frequent basis.

And see your mouth. That Bisi Amire is the first you can point to? She looks like one of those UK-suburb raised boarding school girls that were never thought how to present themselves sexily.

Tope Balogun is kinda nice but I will place Ubanna Amajor and Wola Joseph before her.

^{Chei, if these girls all get opportunity to read this, we don start office war o! Na short skirt battle next month go be.}

Me bros, you know what the good people say about looks
U never know until you are in there,
I think my choice on the ladies generally win the Miss B & I ( u fit put am to vote)


@sagamite, u might want to attach scores to the criteria u listed above, then we can generally agree on the "TOP 10"

meanwhile, who tell u say we dnt like "Uk boarding school girls"
they got loads of tricks up their ------

@ TBK417 you know kehinde ojuawo?OAU(law),Univ of newcastle M.sc?!!!!!!!!its such a small world oh,he is my home boi

!
Femilangy
of course i know Ojuawo. Mum was a teacher in me Pry school, we went to Navy Abeokuta 2geda, OAU 2geda, even lived in the same room in Fajuyi hall in part1.

Im sure hes ruling his world in Banwo & Ighodalo cos hes a brilliant guy aprt from the fact that he is also a shine shine bobo (star Lager);D

u went to navy?i hang out with a lot of ur peeps oh!

yeah he is doing very well now,u are right oh my bro,he is a shine shine bobo guy!

lonewolf:

I am quite impressed by some of these 9ja law firms. Does anybody have any idea about earnings?

The more u r gud in court, d beta d pay go dey.

I think the right answer should

be gotten from them. and most

specially company's spread sheet

and their performances over time.

PUC?
http://www.paulusoro.com/

[1] Nwabueze chambers --- Experts in constitutional and electoral law.
Lead attorney--------- Prof Ben Nwabueze. SAN
Head Office--- Lagos

[2] Onyechi & associates------- Experts in commercial litigation and electoral law.
Lead attorney---------------- Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu. SAN
Head office ----------- Onitsha

[3] Wole Olanipekun & co ------------- Experts in commercial and electoral law.
Lead attorney------------------------ Wole Olanipekun. SAN
Head office---------- Lagos

[4] Anah Chambers----------------------Experts in commerial & electoral law.
Lead attorney-------------- Senator Nathaniel Anah. SAN
Head office---------- Onitsha

To the best of my knowledge, the above names are among the big boys in their respective legal fields. They have argued multiple cases
before the Nigerian supreme court and won some.

Tmoni, that is a tough one as I have not done anything like ratings before so I am just brainstorming as I go along so anything I put might be fallable.

I will give it a stab based on a quick think through.

Revenue (17%)
Aim: To find out the firms with the biggest operations based on revenue.
Risk (low): Revenue might not be a true reflection on performance, revenue per partner/lawyer might be an alternative but lets keed it simple for now.
Methodology: Straiforward. Figures of fee income earned in a year.


No of SAN & Judges associated with firm (Current staff and Alumnis) (15%)
Aim: To find out the top performers in the profession that have been in the firm.
Risk (med): Appointment as a judge sometimes can be a political decision rather than a meritious decision.
Methodology: to overcome risk, judge appointments should carry less points especially at lower levels.

Hence for every SAN=2 points, Supreme court judge and Attorney General=1.5, Federal Judge=1, State level and Commisioners of Justice=0.5

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 15% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.

Peer review (10%)
Aim: To find out the firms that other lawyers themselves will want to work in.
Risk (high): It is a subjective assessment and can be manipulated if the participants know what it would be used for.
Methodology: to overcome risk, it only takes 10% of overall despite being a very good tool for assessment.

Ask a random sample from a few on the top circa 40 law firms their top 5 most admired firm that is not their present employer.

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 10% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.

Size of practice (i.e. number of employees) (10%)
Aim: To find out the number of people employed[i]
[i]Risk (low): Some firms might employ a few people but be making big dough through high fees. That said, the more you employ, the better the perception of your firms operations
Methodology: Simply get headcount of legal professionals employed

> 50 lawyers = 10 points
> 45 lawyers = 9 points
> 40 lawyers = 8 points
> 35 lawyers = 7 points
> 30 lawyers = 6 points
> 25 lawyers = 5 points
> 20 lawyers = 4 points
> 15 lawyers = 3 points
> 10 lawyers = 2 points
> 5 lawyers = 1 points
< 5 lawyers = 0 points

Remuneration (special focus on salary at intake and after 5-10 years in practice) (15%)
Aim: To find out how well staff are renumerated and that they are not being paid peanuts whilst partners live large.
Risk (high): Pay spectrum might be wide for each grade and can't really know what partners earn and it might not be consistent yoy. And I know nothing about Nigerian pay as you will soon see 
Methodology: to overcome risk, use an average pay scale for each grade.

Average pay for new entry > N250K per month = 5
Average pay for new entry > N150K < N250K per month = 4
Average pay for new entry > N100K < N150K per month = 3
Average pay for new entry > N70K < N100K per month = 2
Average pay for new entry > N40K < N70K per month = 1
Average pay for new entry < N40K per month = 0

Average pay after 5 years experience > N600K per month = 5
Average pay after 5 years experience > N450K < N600K per month = 4
Average pay after 5 years experience > N300K < N450K per month = 3
Average pay after 5 years experience > N150K < N300K per month = 2
Average pay after 5 years experience > N100K < N150K per month = 1
Average pay after 5 years experience < N100K per month = 0

Average pay after 10 years experience > N1m per month = 5
Average pay after 10 years experience > N700K < N1m per month = 4
Average pay after 10 years experience > N500K < N700K per month = 3
Average pay after 10 years experience > N300K < N500K per month = 2
Average pay after 10 years experience < N300K per month = 0

Average pay after over 10 years but not partner > N2m per month = 5
Average pay after over 10 years but not partner > N1m < N2m  per month = 3
Average pay after over 10 years but not partner > N500K < N1m per month = 1
Average pay after over 10 years but not partner < N500K per month = 0

Average pay of partners > N3m per month = 5
Average pay of partners > N2m < N3m  per month = 3
Average pay of partners > N1m < N2m  per month = 1
Average pay of partners < N1m  per month = 0

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 15% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.


No of Big Cases/Deals mandated with (Based on Top 20 civil and commercial cases/deals each year) (15%)
Aim: To find out the firms that are chased to handle tough and juicy cases because of their expertise.
Risk (low): Deals are based on connections, but connections is part of a firms strength anyway.
Methodology: Decide top ten by value of fee income or public awareness of case

Grade 1-20 and award equivalent points to mandated firm.

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 15% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.

No of partners per employee (10%)
Aim: To find out the firms that promote lawyers to partner rather than only allowing founders to be partners.
Risk (med): It does not take into account performance gradings that can lead to lack of promotion and promotions below partner level at newer firms.

Methodology: no strong inclination to overcome risk, top firms should employ top performers anyway. Newer firms means less period to access strength anyway and they are likely to have small staff and have advantage with this rating.

Divide the number of legal staff that are non-partners with the number of partners.

Remove a penalty point of 0.2 from score for every partner that is a family member, except the individual:

1) Is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (shows they are qualified to be partners)
2) Has worked in the Magic Circle law firms (UK), White Shoe law firms (USA), Big Six law firms (Australia) or Seven Sisters law firms (Canada) before joining the family firm and has worked at least 8 years before making partner. (no be beans and pancakes to get employed and work for the foreign firms listed)

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 10% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.


Employee training programme (10%)
Aim: To find out how the firms takes training of lawyers as a fundamental objective.
Risk (high): It is a subjective assessment and can be manipulated if the participants know what it would be used for.
Methodology: to overcome risk, it only takes 10% of overall despite being a very good tool for assessment.

Ask a random sample from a few on the top circa 40 law firms how adequate they feel the training offered by their firm is.

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 10% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.

No of offices (extra marks for having operations outside Nigeria) (5%)
Aim: To find out how expansive the firms operations are and how well strategically located.
Risk (low): Some firms might get good business from their poor strategically located offices.
Methodology: Extra marks for operations outside Nigeria. Top marks for operations in Lagos, Abuja and/or PH.

5 points for firms with offices abroad and at least one of the three economic cities (Lagos, Abuja and PH).
4 points for firms with offices in All of the three economic cities (Lagos, Abuja and PH) and other cities.
3 points for firms with offices in at least two of the three economic cities (Lagos, Abuja and PH) and other cities.
2 points for firms with offices in Lagos and other cities not Abuja and PH.   
1 point for firms offices in cities not including Lagos.

Align scores to % (5% is highest overall).

Website quality (meets minimum threshold) (3%)
Aim: To find out the firms that are professional enough to at least manage their image.
Risk (low): None really.
Methodology:

3 points for firms with best-in-class website (all sections are complete and look very sharp and neat structure-wise).
2 points for firms with website with complete details AND no malfunctions .   
1 point for firms with website with few details and/or constantly malfunctions (including some pages under construction).
0 point for firms without website (including under construction).

Align scores to % (3% is highest overall).

Anyone who rules out Wole Olanipekun has got to be kidding me.That guy is a star.

Remuneration (special focus on salary at intake and after 5-10 years in practice) (15%)
Aim: To find out how well staff are renumerated and that they are not being paid peanuts whilst partners live large.
Risk (high): Pay spectrum might be wide for each grade and can't really know what partners earn and it might not be consistent yoy. And I know nothing about Nigerian pay as you will soon see

Methodology: to overcome risk, use an average pay scale for each grade.

Average pay for new entry > N250K per month = 5
Average pay for new entry > N150K < N250K per month = 4
Average pay for new entry > N100K < N150K per month = 3
Average pay for new entry > N70K < N100K per month = 2
Average pay for new entry > N40K < N70K per month = 1
Average pay for new entry < N40K per month = 0

No of Big Cases/Deals mandated with (Based on Top 20 civil and commercial cases/deals each year) (15%)
Aim: To find out the firms that are chased to handle tough and juicy cases because of their expertise.
Risk (low): Deals are based on connections, but connections is part of a firms strength anyway.
Methodology: Decide top ten by value of fee income or public awareness of case

Grade 1-20 and award equivalent points to mandated firm.

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 15% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.

Based on the criteria you listed, the first -four law firms in Nigeria are
1)Gani Fawehinmi & Company. It has produced many respectable lawyers like Rotimi Jacobs, Nuhu Ribadu, Festus Keyamo, Tayo Oyetibo(SAN), Edwin Anikwem, Nnaemeka Amaechina etc.
2)Emmanuel Chambers owned by Chief Afe Babalola.
3)Messrs Wole Olanipekun.
4)Paul Usoro & Co. This firm auctioned three digital mobile licences, DML, which successfully introduced Zain, MTN and M-TEL. Its clients include Access Bank,FCMB, Union Bank, unity Bank, Akwa Ibom, Niger and Delta State governments, NNPC,UAC, NDIC, Zain, etc. He is also a maritime law guru.
You can choose the remaining from the list below.
A) AOS PRACTICE owned by Chief Ajibola Anthony Aribisala (a lawyer with global clout).
B)Ricky Tarfa & Co.
C)Temitope chambers of Lateef Fagbemi.
D)Kola Awodein & co.
E)Amos Utuama chambers.
F)Punuka Attorney & Solicitors of Anthony Ikemefuna Idigbe.
G)Ajogobia and Oke.
H)Yusuf Ali & co.
I)Femi Okunnu & co.
J)Niyi Akintola chambers.
K)Abiola Oshodi and co.
L)Eyimofe Atake chambers.
M)Agbakoba chambers.
N)Stracham Partners.
O)Louis Mbanefo & Co.
P)Bayo Ojo & co.
Q)Dele Adesina chambers.
R),
These are, undoughtedly, the best law firms in Nigeria today.
Know what you want and go for it thanks.

Based on the criteria you listed, the first -four law firms in Nigeria are
1)Gani Fawehinmi & Company. It has produced many respectable lawyers like Rotimi Jacobs, Nuhu Ribadu, Festus Keyamo, Tayo Oyetibo(SAN), Edwin Anikwem, Nnaemeka Amaechina etc.
2)Emmanuel Chambers owned by Chief Afe Babalola.
3)Messrs Wole Olanipekun.
4)Paul Usoro & Co. This firm auctioned three digital mobile licences, DML, which successfully introduced Zain, MTN and M-TEL. Its clients include Access Bank,FCMB, Union Bank, unity Bank, Akwa Ibom, Niger and Delta State governments, NNPC,UAC, NDIC, Zain, etc. He is also a maritime law guru.
You can choose the remaining from the list below.
A) AOS PRACTICE owned by Chief Ajibola Anthony Aribisala (a lawyer with global clout).
B)Ricky Tarfa & Co.
C)Temitope chambers of Lateef Fagbemi.
D)Kola Awodein & co.
E)Amos Utuama chambers.
F)Punuka Attorney & Solicitors of Anthony Ikemefuna Idigbe.
G)Ajomogobia and Oke.
H)Yusuf Ali & co.
I)Femi Okunnu & co.
J)Niyi Akintola chambers.
K)Abiola Oshodi and co.
L)Eyimofe Atake chambers.
M)Agbakoba chambers.
N)Stracham Partners.
O)Louis Mbanefo & Co.
P)Bayo Ojo & co.
Q)Dele Adesina chambers.
R),
These are, undoughtedly, the best law firms in Nigeria today.
Know what you want and go for it thanks.

From what I have seen so far, the following firms have no bleeping chance in hell to be amongst the top 10 law firms in Nigeria:

AOS PRACTICE
Temitope chambers of Lateef Fagbemi.
Kola Awodein & Co
Amos Utuama chambers
Yusuf Ali & Co
Femi Okunnu & Co
Dele Adesina chambers
Alex Izinyo & co


There are others that enough info does not exist (because they have no website, it is not working or it has limited info) and probably should be in the list of "not in this lifetime" including any firm with just ONE partner.

I don't care whether the partner went to oxford for undergrad, then cambridge for masters, then harvard for Phd and then taught at Stanford as professor before winning all the cases in Supreme Court of Nigeria. All that tells me is that the firm has a good lawyer, not a good firm.

Two heads are better than one. One-man bands will not enter my top 10 firms, especially Baba Sala SANs that have no website.

The most impressive so far are (in no particular order):

Name (Partners, non-partners)                                 Website
Babalakin and Co  (5, 37)                                  http://www.babalakinandco.com/
Aluko and Oyebode  (10, 35)                             http://www.aluko-oyebode.com/
Afe Babalola & Co  (3, 27)                                  http://www.afebabalola.com/
Taiwo & Abdullahi  (5, 9)                                    http://www.abdulaitaiwo.com/
Banwo and Ighodalo  (4, 35)                             http://www.banwo-ighodalo.com/
Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors  (5, 13)               http://www.punuka.com/
Jackson Etti & Edu  (8, 18)                                 http://www.jacksonettiandedu.com/
Matrix Solicitors  (3, 9)                                       http://www.matrixsolicitors.com/
Udo Udoma and Belo Osagie  (8, 30)                 http://www.uubo.org/en/index.php
AELEX    (6, 38)                                                  http://www.aelex.com/
Gani Fawehinmi Chambers  (3, 16)                    http://www.ganifawehinmi.com/
Blackfriars and Co  (7, Not Specified)                 http://www.blackfriars-law.com/
Olaniwun Ajayi   (5, 23)                                      http://www.olaniwunajayi.net/
Chief Rotimi Williams Chamber   (4, 13)              http://www.frawilliams.com/
Ajumogobia & Okeke  (Not Specified)                 http://www.ajumogobiaokeke.com/
Ricky Tarfa & Co  (3, 45)                                     http://rickytarfalaw.org/
Paul Usoro & Co  (3, 22)                                     http://www.paulusoro.com/
Templars (8, 15)                                                 http://www.templars-law.com/

Just looking at their website and profiles, it just shuts the gate of Top 10 law firms to the other firms that have been mentioned. They are in a league of their own.

Sagamite, another point to consider is the area of practice, while most of these firms are indeed full service; they tend to be stronger in some areas than others. Olaniwun Ajayi for instance has its forte in finance and project management, which may explain why the guy who has done some investment banking could speak more about them.

Also I’m guessing that when you were asking about ‘entry level’ pay in your rating system, you were referring to law school freshers?

ponytail:
Sagamite, another point to consider is the area of practice, while most of these firms are indeed full service; they tend to be stronger in some areas than others. Olaniwun Ajayi for instance has its forte in finance and project management, which may explain why the guy who has done some investment banking could speak more about them.

Hi, I guess so.

I doubt any or much law firms are really that much full service to the point we can even indicate first 10 on such restrictions. I am also trying my best to give consideration for civil case based law firms to be able to compete favourably in my grading methodology which the stupid, cheap Spam Bot will not let me post.

ponytail:
Also I’m guessing that when you were asking about ‘entry level’ pay in your rating system, you were referring to law school freshers?

Yeah, that is right. I guess you are about to say my pay scales are ridiculous. As I said, I don't know about Naija pay.

Sagamite:

Hi, I guess so.

I doubt any or much law firms are really that much full service to the point we can even indicate first 10 on such restrictions. I am also trying my best to give consideration for civil case based law firms to be able to compete favourably in my grading methodology which the stupid, cheap Spam Bot will not let me post.

I don’t think so, these law firms are full service but they all have different strengths, the same way Allen and Overy is noted for Project Finance or Herbert Smith for Energy.

No of Big Cases/Deals mandated with (Based on Top 20 civil and commercial cases/deals each year) (15%)
Aim: To find out the firms that are chased to handle tough and juicy cases because of their expertise.
Risk (low): Deals are based on connections, but connections is part of a firms strength anyway.

Methodology: Decide top ten by value of fee income or public awareness (this is subjective) of case

Grade 1-20 and award equivalent points to mandated firm.

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 15% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.

No of partners per employee (10%)
Aim: To find out the firms that promote lawyers to partner rather than only allowing founders to be partners.
Risk (med): It does not take into account performance gradings that can lead to lack of promotion and promotions below partner level at newer firms.

Methodology: no strong inclination to overcome risk, top firms should employ top performers anyway. Newer firms means less period to access strength anyway and they are likely to have small staff and have advantage with this rating.

Divide the number of legal staff that are non-partners with the number of partners.

Remove a penalty point of 0.2 from score for every partner that is a family member, except the individual:

1) Is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (shows they are qualified to be partners)
2) Has worked in the Magic Circle law firms (UK), White Shoe law firms (USA), Big Six law firms (Australia) or Seven Sisters law firms (Canada) before joining the family firm and has worked at least 8 years before making partner. (no be beans and pancakes to get employed and work for the foreign firms listed)

Baseline highest score to 100 (i.e. 10% of overall) and use for calculating the % rest's scores.

no idea

Will schooling in the US help you get a job in one of these firms?

I'm going to have to disagree about the points giving to websites. I understand that having a banging website should mean alot but i dnt think thats a great criteria to a successful firm. It says a little about how well the firm is moving with world trends but many legal luminaries (generally older than 50 yrs) dnt have sites with the bells and whistles based on our youthful standards of now.

Anywhoo, before i bore myself with my own words. I'm suprised that the likes of OLUJINMI and AKEREDOLU failed to show up on this list. Anyone care to comment on this?

@Babse

do u work in that particular law firm ?

Olujinmi & Akeredo . . .who ?

come off it !

some of u guys are just damn ludicrious ! I wonder where u get these upstarts from and start calling them the next best thing in the LAW FIRMAMENT ?

Dr,
Na, i dnt work for the firm. I most definitely will not mind working for them though. And no i'm not classifying the firm as d best or some heavenly abode in the nigerian law industry. Just curious to see if they have clout watsoever.

babse:

I'm going to have to disagree about the points giving to websites. I understand that having a banging website should mean alot but i dnt think thats a great criteria to a successful firm. It says a little about how well the firm is moving with world trends but many legal luminaries (generally older than 50 yrs) dnt have sites with the bells and whistles based on our youthful standards of now.

Anywhoo, before i bore myself with my own words. I'm suprised that the likes of OLUJINMI and AKEREDOLU failed to show up on this list. Anyone care to comment on this?

Having a website is not the only criterion I have used. There are multiple other criteria being used.

That said, the website's weighting is low so is not a deciding factor.

But I am pretty confident any legal luminary that doesn't have a website, or one that reasonably moves with world trends, is unlikely to run an atmosphere and internal structure that is up to trends. Most likely would still be stuck in the 80s in regards to mentality and staff development.

From my time in Nigeria , there has been 2 stages of legal evolution form the FRA and Kehinde Sofola era to the Large Hollywood mega firms like Koinsola Ajayi , Ighodalo etc, yet I believe firms that are able to remain personal in service and global in quality are those that are like Kayode Sofola & Associates. They lead the way in organically growing and non-political law firms which grow through quality and not patronage.

Sagamite the Law from Oxford, No?