'Etiquette for Lawyers' By Adesina Ogunlana

When a person is called to the Nigerian Bar as a Solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, behold, old things are passed away.
He becomes not only a gentleman but a learned gentleman. Maybe you never know: a gentleman is a gentleman but a learned gentleman is and must be a legal practitioner, only.
Now if somebody is a learned gentleman, it is by his manners – you’ll know him; manners such as
1. DRESSING PROPERLY AND NEATLY TO COURT. In courts where judicial officers preside, you will see the proper learned gentleman in black and white colours.
2. NEVER SHOUTING IN COURT. This is because shouting is often an exhibition of rage and excited emotional state. Gentlemen, particularly learned gentlemen, in the office of counsel are never to be mistaken for annoyed primates in the jungle.
3. NEVER RUNNING DOWN A COURT BEFORE THE PRESS, AFTER LOSING A CASE. A gentleman is never a bad loser. When decisions of court go against a lawyer’s expectations, he does not therefore embark on a press attack on the presiding judge.
The best policy is not to grant press interview at all. The next best policy is to speak tersely to the press and indicate that the opportunity of appeal will be exploited to test the validity of the judgement of the trial court. Abusing a judge or ridiculing his judgment in the market place, at any rate, does not change it one bit.
4. NOT ENCOURAGING OR INSTIGATING SELF HELP. Sometimes it appears that the law and due process are taking too long a time to arrive at the Justice destination. So people find it convenient, expedient to resort to self help. A lawyer however should not succumb to such inclinations. Self help often results in disorder. An instance of self help is proof of loss of confidence in the ability of constituted authority to do justice.
5. NOT DECEIVING PEOPLE. There are people you cannot entrust with anything, not even their own shadows! Decent legal practitioners do not member among such slippery, unreliable lot. The type known and addressed as people deceiving people. Rather they keep their word with clients, colleagues and the courts. The bar is not a place for just anybody. So it is extremely odious to find a liar and untrustworthy person having a place in the bar.
A gentleman is a man of honour. The first law of honour, is, of course as you know, “Keep your word!”