Hiya guys, Im new to this but, what i rally wanted to know is how much lawyers are paid in nigeria when working for a law firm, please respond, thanks

60k monthly

It depends on your years of xperience and the location of d chamber.to be lawyers pay in Nigeria is nothing to write home about especially wen u are a new wig.lawyers are paid btw 10k and 15k in agege,2ok in ikeja,+_50k in ikoyi/vi all in lagos.some will not even pay anything

WHAT!!!!! SERIOUSLY? LAWYERS are payed that little in lagos that is TERRIBLE, i was thinking they were paid approx. 500k a month at LEAST!

talk like u dont know, in abuja,its terrible.i was attached to one, he paid nothing.even though i within one omth of working there, helped secure three jobs that paid out N150k - N300k, he gave me 10% of the first N150.i never intended to start practice upon penury,so i ditched the firm,its all in the books.i go to other seniors as friends and associates now,and im really learning on my own.if the job wud pay,there is a readily available senior who wud put u tru for a fee.so what the heck, i can negotiate,go to court,read,research and do virtually all what is in the precedent books and as laid down by the gurus in the legal profession.so i got myself a law firm,a secretary and two juniors and im 3 years into practice.lol

Well solomjay, Thats a good acievement however, im stll in shock that lawyers are paid soo little, its ridiculous, they cant even afford an aveage apartment, its just stupid. were would they be living how can they even afford to take care of themeselves? its ridiculous, WE PAY OUR HOUSEKEEPER 20K A MONTH!!! HOW CAN I BE EARNING THE EQUIVILANT!!!

my junior brother is a lawyer in abuja and his being payed as little as 10k monthly. how he copes in that town only god knows, quiet a depressing job here in naija i must say.

My first salary was N8,000 for like 6 months and i moved to a swankier law firm in Ikoyi and they upgraded it to N15,000 Per month and after 2 months i realised that it wasnt worth it and old lawyers dont want younger lawyers to progress and in between they encourage a lot of sharp malpractice to woo in clients at the young lawyers expense. After that i realised that its not how long but how well and ended up setting up my own. The moment i did that, my older principals started congratulating me as being a smart guy and now they see me as their colleague.

Its a terrible system here and you just have to be smart and try and work towards establishing on your own in the nearest future unless these old lawyers wont encourage you for the life of it. Anyway the reason you are collecting that little amount is for the experience and to train you to be self sufficient! Thats one of the reason i never liked Gani Fahwenhimi because his chambers was one of the pioneering firms that started this nonsense of undervaluing lawyers and paying them N5,000. Its just cheap labour and slavery in my own opinion and even the chief justice cannot justify such a wicked practice.

No case No pay , lawyers always pray for court case, and citizen dont want anymore case

It is terrible! In this situation how does one get justice?

what
and we want justice in Nigeria?
I think they should proceed on indefinite strike for ever till they pay at least 100k/month
this is callous!

RICHIE BOI:

my junior brother is a lawyer in abuja and his being payed as little as 10k monthly. how he copes in that town only god knows, quiet a depressing job here in naija i must say.

lawyer:

My first salary was N8,000 for like 6 months and i moved to a swankier law firm in Ikoyi and they upgraded it to N15,000 Per month and after 2 months i realised that it wasnt worth it and old lawyers dont want younger lawyers to progress and in between they encourage a lot of sharp malpractice to woo in clients at the young lawyers expense.

What irritating rubbish! 

Honestly, Nigerians are sick!

Absolute wickedness!

At first, I actually thought you guys were joking. But seriously, this is pathetic. I was wondering why all my lawyer friends never practiced law and went into banking and some other sectors, now I know better.

Should they paid them 1million at a start? Life is all about acquiring the experience b4 any other time. It is done even here in Italy and some parts in Europe.

this is serious, imagining me spending six yrs paying hard earn US Dollar in a foreign university to acqire llb law.
am sure mine uncle earns more dan dat, his in ph

I was admitted to the bar in 2007. My 1st salary was N20k. Since then i have traversed 8 law firms in lagos. @ my peak i earned 40k. Law practice is full of oppression & exploitation. If i begin to chronicle my oddyssey i will not finish by next yr. We the youth have done our best 4 this country however, the elders r hell-bent on ruining it. Nigeria will never grow

Honestly, pure exploitation.

Can you guys not form a union?

Is it really very difficult to set up a practice by grouping with some other grads and competing in areas you can (I know major oil deals will be a no-no)?

and to think i was encouraging by lil sis to read law! So what all the ceremony of going to law sch for?? WTF!!

Emmanuel, its not easy for young lawyers in nigeria especially wen yr father is not one of those big lawyers.wen i came out of d university wt 2-1 i was full of hope but wen i started practising i bcame discouraged.i was asking myself is this d course i spent ten good years pursuing after my secondary sch b4 i cld secure admission.the senior coleagues are not helping d matters. i got  employment wt a very renown activist lawyer in allen in lagos on the salary of 2ok/month wc is hardly enough 4 tfare let alone feeding.he wanted me to be coming again on saturday but i told him no.do you know the most disgusting thing he said, 'dnt u know dt im doing u a favour by employing you, 'i was badly hit by the statement.i told him point blank dt i did not beg for work then i left.wt all d suffer way man suffer for skul.u can not ask 4money bco pple think dt lawyers are well paid.

Do u even have d slightest idea of d topic under discussion here? Do they pay lawyers N20k in europe? We're talking of some of d most focused, hardworking & talented segment of your population. ppl who spent 6yrs in training. Do u know d average pay of an unskilled factory worker in lagos is N25k, a driver is N30k, yet lawyers earn N25k. a nation that's so anti education can never grow

Justiceakin:

Emmanuel, its not easy for young lawyers in nigeria especially wen yr father is not one of those big lawyers.wen i came out of d university wt 2-1 i was full of hope but wen i started practising i bcame discouraged.i was asking myself is this d course i spent ten good years pursuing after my secondary sch b4 i cld secure admission.the senior coleagues are not helping d matters. i got  employment wt a very renown activist lawyer in allen in lagos on the salary of 2ok/month wc is hardly enough 4 tfare let alone feeding.he wanted me to be coming again on saturday but i told him no.do you know the most disgusting thing he said, 'dnt u know dt im doing u a favour by employing you, 'i was badly hit by the statement.i told him point blank dt i did not beg for work then i left.wt all d suffer way man suffer for skul.u can not ask 4money bco pple think dt lawyers are well paid.

Name him!!!

I feel like sending him an email.

Learned colleageue. so they refer to themselves, I just pity them.

Lawyers that do well work for corporations and well established firms.

oh boy, no be small thing oh,

So, if lawyer monthly fees are this cheap, why am I paying so much to be represented!!!!, The Law!, we need to talk.

Realistically, who goes to court in Nigeria? If it is Land matters, all the beneficiaries would be killed with juju; If a danfo hit your car, before you say jacksh1t, he has started rolling on the floor begging.

Everybody, has third party insurance certificate made by a road side typist. Employment law? dont even go there, once your are fired you are fired.

Ibori and Alamieyesigha(whatever his name is) will only be looking for FRA Williams.

The best bet for Lawyers in Nigeria is work in Corporate organisations.

i weep the more for my country. i for long knew that the only profession that get job instantly [but with little pay is medcine[doctors],lawyers don't even get job so easily. i equally knew that the cheapest thing in Nigeria is labour but i never knew that lawyers get that low wages.i have a Friend who practices in a little town ,guess what;after about three years of practice, he has almost complete a hostel accommodation that cost him almost 4mil naira.Nigerians detest village; everybody want to be in Lagos, abj and ph.i weep for my beloved country.

ok

@ sagamite: i think young lawyers r so shocked by d harsh treatment & low wages that welcome them into d profession that most opt out. Some leave d country, some leave to other sectors & others leave to pursue business. Those who remain r those from poor homes who cannot finance a struggle. Nigeria has produced about 80,000 lawyers in 50yrs. There r about 40,000 lawyers in the NBA. This represents d no of lawyers that r alive & resident in nigeria. D no of lawyers in actual legal practice in nigeria is less than 20,000. Legal practice is a multi-billion naira industry dominated by a few popular names. In reality most of d job is done by d unknown young lawyers but, d money never trickles down to those who do d job

I feel you folks, the big names pay very little, if you must practice, you would need to persevere, learn the trade and go start your own private practice. This again isn't that easy, you need money to go this route.


By in the days, my law firm paid 3K more than Gani's chamber and my boss then would brag and tell us to go to Gani's if we complain about our pay.

@ the poster would provided numbers for the number of lawyers in Nigeria and the NBA, could you please supply a source? if you have one. I say this because, I think the numbers MIGHT be wrong. I think each year, law school spits more than 10 graduates, more so, now that I heard they have more than one law school.

By then we were like 350 in my class. Faculty of law oau had a total of 2400 students, part one through five. Please folks, I know this isn't what the thread is about, but want to know the rough number of lawyers in Nigeria and how many we have in law schools each year. This could be another reason why the pay is low, the big principals know that, the supply out numbers the demand.

Although its rumoured that the lawyers salary would be revisited nothing has been done about it.  Probably because our senior colleagues who are supposed to deliberate on the matter are the ones who will be affected when its finally implemented.

The question now is, can a man be a( an impartial)judge in his own case ?there is need for the new wigs and other junior lawyers to come together under one umbrella to fight this course.I REST MY CASE.

There are too many paper qualified people everywhere in Nigeria so naturally the wages will drop whereas there are few technical hands available so naturally the wages will rise. Try and get a good and dedicated driver it comes with a high price. Its the same for an office manager and secretary.