WAHALA: Lawyers jack up legal fees on chieftaincy, land matters, others
Khalid ABRAHAM
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has jacked up fees for legal services in the country.
This is contained in a release circulated to branches of the association Tuesday obtained by ogbomosoinsightonline.com.
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According to the release under the caption “Legal Practitioners’ (Remuneration for Business, Legal Services & Representation) Order, 2023,” which highlighted the new fees, legal practitioners are advised to adhere strictly to this schedule of fees warning that defaulters would face serious sanctions.
“Except as otherwise provided in this Order, no legal practitioner shall charge, or accept any fee less than the prescribed rates for any business or service rendered to any client, and any legal practitioner who charges or accepts remuneration less than as prescribed in this Order, SHALL BE LIABLE FOR UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AS PRESCRIBED IN THE LEGAL PRACTITIONER ACT.”
The new fees which come under various categories as consultation fees, criminal matters, appeals, assignments/conveyancing/mortgages and leases/tenancies take effect from July 28.
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An insight into the new schedule of fees indicates that for miscellaneous disputes such as land, chieftaincy and other litigation matters, clients will now be required to pay consultation fees ranging from N400, 000 to N3m depending on the status of the legal practitioner. A lawyer who has put in one to nine years in legal service is expected to charge N400, 000 as consultation fees, those with over ten years experience would charge N600, 000 while Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SANs) will collect N3m.
In the same vein cases of appeals at the High Court, Customary Court of Appeal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court will attract fees ranging from N400, 000 to N5m.
See new fees table below:
