Section 10 Legal Practitioners Act

Section 10 of Legal Practitioners Act 1975 is about Functions of the Body of Benchers. It is under ‘Practice as a Legal Practitioner‘ of the sections of the Act. It provides as follows:

1. The Body of Benchers shall be responsible for—

a. the formal call to the Bar of persons seeking to become legal practitioners in Nigeria;

b. the exercise of disciplinary jurisdiction over members of the legal profession and over students seeking to become legal practitioners;

c. taking all measures (whether by making regulations pursuant to the powers conferred on it by this section or otherwise howsoever) which appear to it to be necessary or expedient for maintaining at all times the traditional values of the legal profession; and d prescribing fees to be paid by legal practitioners pursuant to the provisions of this Act after consultation with the Association.

2. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution of the Association, the Body of Benchers shall have and may exercise any or all the powers specified in subsection (3) of this section whenever—

a. the term of office of the officers or the elected members of the National Executive Committee of the Association has expired and it is impossible for the Association to hold the necessary elections for a period exceeding 30 days thereafter; or

b. the Body Benchers is satisfied that by reason of dispute among the members of National Executive Committee of the Association, it is impossible or impracticable for the National Executive Committee to undertake or continue its functions of managing the affairs of the Association; or

c. the National Executive Committee of the Association passes a resolution calling upon the Body of Benchers to exercise such powers.

3. Whenever any of the events specified in subsection (2) of this section occurs, the Body of Benchers shall have power to—

a. inquire into the cause of the default in holding the necessary elections or of the dispute among members of the National Executive Committee of the Association;

b. appoint (whether or not from among the Body of Benchers) such other suitable persons to run the affairs of the Association, and such persons shall be known as the Caretaker Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (in this Act referred to as “the Caretaker Committee”).

4. A Caretaker Committee of the Association appointed pursuant to subsection (3) of this section shall manage the affairs of the Association for such period as the Body Benchers may prescribe, provided that the period so prescribed shall not exceed 12 months in the aggregate.

5. The appointment of a Caretaker Committee by the Body of Benchers shall terminate forthwith all resolutions of the Association or the resolution of the National Executive Committee relating to the operation of the account of the association in any bank and all such other accounts of the association may thereafter be operated by the Caretaker Committee of the Association.

6. The authority of the Caretaker Committee to operate the account of the Association in any Bank shall not be affected by any order of injunction issued prior to the date of its appointment and any such order of injunction shall by virtue of this Act abate, be made null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

7. The disciplinary powers conferred on the Body of Benchers under subsection (l) of this section shall be exercised in such manner as may be prescribed by rules made by the Chief Justice of Nigeria in that behalf.