Inner Bar Rankings: Advent of ‘Blue Silks’ unsettles CJN, LPPC

2026-02-26 - 00:57

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri Currently, there are about 200,000 lawyers on the Supreme Court Roll of Legal Practitioners, admitted to the Nigerian Bar. This, undoubtedly, makes the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) the largest organisation of legal practitioners in Africa, though still far below the numerical strength of countries like India with over two million registered legal professionals, and the United States, which has about 1.3 million lawyers. The legal landscape in Nigeria fundamentally comprises the Bar and the Bench, which together form the core of the legal profession and justice administration. A primary thread running through both divides (Bar and Bench) is the concept of seniority, which not only confers privileges but also determines suitability for appointment to certain roles and positions. At the Bar, the pinnacle of legal excellence is attaining the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Nigeria has conferred the rank of SAN on numerous distinguished lawyers since the inception of the title in 1975. The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), which is chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), is the statutory body responsible for determining who meets the threshold for the rank, which is akin to the title of Queen’s Counsel (QC) in the United Kingdom. Some of the benefits that accrue to holders of the rank include a front-row seat in courts, as well as having their cases called ahead of other lawyers, irrespective of age or professional qualification. Moreover, SANs don silk gowns during proceedings—symbolising prestige—and are addressed as Learned Silk in formal settings, such as judgments or introductions. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, recently disclosed that there are about 1,000 SANs in the country. Periodically, the LPPC, pursuant to section 5(2) of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11 LFN 2004, issues guidelines for the conferment of the rank on deserving lawyers. On November 25, 2025, President Bola Tinubu kick-started a reform process to increase