By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA— As an aftermath of the out-of-court settlement between the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, 30 legal practitioners were yesterday conferred with  the rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN.

Their names were contained in two separate lists released after a protracted meeting held by the LPPC at the Supreme Court complex, Abuja, yesterday.

Statutorily, it is only the LPPC that has the powers to confer SAN on worthy legal practitioners that satisfy all the requisite conditions for the title, just as it equally has the mandate to discipline any of them found professionally wanting.

Briefing newsmen in Abuja yesterday, Chief Registrar of the apex court, Mr Sunday Olorundahunsi, said the new SANs were okayed for the position after a holistic appraisal of their personal and official conduct by the legal body.

He maintained that sequel to an understanding by all the stakeholders in the Nigerian judiciary, the LPPC decided to group the new SANs into two separate lists containing 15  names each.

He disclosed that though the two groups would be sworn-in on the same day, however, each set of 15  SANs would represent the 2010 and the 2011 legal years, respectively.

Whereas three of the new SAN’s were drawn from the academia, others were hitherto into active legal practice.
Meanwhile, the LPPC yesterday said no other SAN would be appointed till 2012.

It would be recalled that the NBA, ab-initio, went before a Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge a 62-man list of legal practitioners earlier shortlisted for the rank by the LPPC.

NBA contended that it was not notified before the list of the proposed SANs was made public on March 16.
However, at the resumed hearing of the suit on May 16, counsel to the NBA, Mr Emeka Obegolu, informed the presiding judge in the matter, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, that all the parties decided to settle the matter out of court.