Title: Sisters in Law: Career Choices for Nigerian Women Lawyers
Authors: Boma Ozobia & Elizabeth Cruickshank
Review By: Sharon Famonure
When I first saw this book, my first thought was that it was about the lives of some sisters-in law. Having read it through (twice), I have come to the conclusion that this is not just a book but a practical guide for Nigerian women lawyers.
The women portrayed in this book cut across diverse backgrounds and inclinations. They however had one thing in common…the Law and family. They each successfully combined both and achieved outstanding results.
One of such women is Uju Aisha Hassan Baba, the Direcotr General of the Legal Aid Council. After several years as a prosecutor in the Ministry of Justice, She made the move from prosecutor to ‘Chief Public Defender’ in 1999. After an initial adjustment period, Uju Aisha Hassan Baba rolled up her sleeves and went to work with such zeal and enthusiasm; from Prison yard to Court Room, her passion spills over.
During my stint as a corp member with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), I had regular contact with the Legal Aid Commission and got to hear of the incredible service this spectacular woman was rendering. I also became quite familiar with the mission statement of the Commission, ‘Giving Voice to the Voiceless.’ It was therefore with a bubbling sense of excitement that I turned to the section which had her interview in the book and I was not disappointed. She is every bit the dynamic woman I had suspected her to be. Her advice for female lawyers is spot on:
” From the very beginning every female lawyer must be sincere and hardworking. You need to take every case seriously and you have to put all that you have into it. Without hard work, you will not succeed.“
Quite a number of eminent women in the profession featured in the book, but one in particular stands out boldly in my memory. This is Sena Anthony. She is the Group General Manager, Corporate Secretariat and Legal Division and Secretary to the Corporation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). She is not just the first woman to chair the International Bar Association (IBA) Section on Energy and Natural Resources, but is also the first African.
This sister in law made me see the beauty in being an in house counsel; reading her interview made me want to be an in house counsel. She gently and patiently takes the reader through the multi-faceted abilities and the versatility of the in house lawyer. This is certainly an eye opener; as Sena Anthony puts it:
“We really have to have a knowledge of everything. We need to know about Aviation Law and the Law relating to Goods and Services; as in-house lawyers we really have to have a broad base of legal knowledge.“
The book, Sisters in Law reads like an accolade of the women who have climbed unto the highest platforms of their chosen areas of law with notable ’sisters’ like Funke Adekoya who is the Managing Partner of AELEX Legal Practitioners and Arbitrators and is also one of only 5 women who are Senior Advocates of Nigeria; or the inestimable Yinka Omorogbe, Professor of Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan (my almer mater). Professor Yinka Omorogbe is a consultant on Energy Law and Policy, Managing Director of the Centre for Petroleum, Environment and Development Studies and the General Secretary on the Nigeria Society of International Law. These women and their contemporaries mentioned in Sisters in Law, have a number of achivements to their name. The authors are no exception.
Growing up in the Oil City of Nigeria, Port Harcourt, Boma Ozobia, one of the authors of the book experienced first hand, the challenges faced by lady lawyers in Nigeria yet she did not let that hold her down. She qualified both in Nigeria and in the United Kingdom. She is the founding partner of Sterling Partnership Solicitors LLP and was Chairwoman of the Association of Women Solicitors of England and Wales in 2005. She is a highly principled person and her belief in hard work and determination come across clearly as one reads through the live of the different women she writes about. She is one of those inimitable women who have successfully combined law practice and a home life.
Elizabeth Cruickshank, author of “Women in the Law” and Editor of Link, the magazine of the Association of Women Solicitors of England and Wales is another outstanding woman. She was Chairwoman of the Association of Women Solicitors in 2004, and in 2005 was given the Era Crawley Award for services to women solicitors. She is certainly a role model to young lawyers; she has shown me that it is indeed possible to ‘have it all:’ a fulfilling career and a happy home.
Sisters in Law is a compulsory read for all young female lawyers. When I was at the University and even at law school, I had no mentors to look up to; no doubt they existed but of who they were and how to find them, I was totally clueless. If I’d had this book, it would have been a different story.
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