The Chief Justice of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem O.Alogba has directed all court registrars to notify lawyers each time the Court wouldn’t sit.
According to the directive dated 21st of January signed by the Chief Registrar,the registrars are expected to communicate to lawyers about this 48 hours to the date of their matters via email or telephone failure of which they will face disciplinary actions.
This is a welcome development for lawyers as Courtroom practice has become very stressful owing to the lack of communication between the court and Lawyers.
Lawyers in Lagos depending on where they live and the division of court they are appearing set out as early as 4:30am to attend court only to realise on getting to court that the court will not sit. The experience can be depressing and can actually reduce life expectancy of Lawyers.
The Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted the court system which has been struggling with archaic system of Justice delivery including poor communication with stakeholders of the court system.
In 2017 ,a Lagos Lawyer with the government of Lagos State, Tolani Rafiu came up with a wonderful initiative of forming a joint whatsapp group of Lawyers and Registrars aimed at disseminating information. This has gone very far and has been useful but a more inclusive and robust system needs to be put in place.
The court undoubtedly has a very long way to go to fit into the present times ,a good communication between stakeholders will be a good way to start any reform.
