The Missing Lawyer-Statesmen in Nigeria
On the eve of nominating Oliver Wendell Holmes as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge that "the ablest lawyers are men whose past has naturally brought them into close relationship with the wealthiest and the most powerful." Roosevelt left unsaid that such lawyers often profit from these relationships. Profiting from skill and intellect in service of the wealthy is not criminal, but it can lead to hollowness. Roosevelt expressed joy at finding Holmes, who "has been able to preserve his aloofness of mind so as to keep his broad humanity of feeling and his sympathy for the class from which he has not drawn his clients."
When Holmes turned 90 in 1931, Benjamin Cardozo called him "the great overlord of the law and its philosophy." However, posterity was less generous. At the 40th anniversary of Holmes' death in 1977, Harvard Law School declined to publish Grant Gilmore's essay, which was explosively critical. Gilmore saw Holmes as "savage, harsh, and cruel, a bitter and lifelong pessimist." Sheldon Novick, Holmes' authoritative biographer, answered "no" to whether he would want Holmes as a friend. University of Chicago Law Professor Albert Alschuler concluded Holmes' life was "Law Without Values."
The Concept of Lawyer-Statesman
The greatest lawyers profit from association with the great while contributing to the class from which they do not draw clients. Former U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist called them "the Lawyer-Statesman." Former Yale Law School Dean Anthony Kronman writes that such lawyers care "about the public good and is prepared to sacrifice his own well-being for it, unlike those who use the law merely to advance their private end." Hard-won forensic battles are acknowledged in law reports, but these are for interested lawyers only, and they are getting fewer.
Ten days before his death in January 2001, George Carman Q.C., the most celebrated English barrister of his generation, requested a posthumous biography from his son Dominic. Published in 2002, No Ordinary Man: A Life of George Carman, QC painted a picture of a sad, insecure, violent man. Material success is visible to those who care, but it is irrelevant as a measure of greatness. It is possible to make money and win cases while hollowing out the law and making life impossible for ordinary people. In Nigeria today, that species is abundant.
Examples from Other African Countries
Comparisons with leading lives in law from other African countries are useful. Nelson Mandela needs no introduction, but Bram Fischer does. He was lead counsel to Mandela at the Rivonia trial. A scion of a privileged Boer family, Fischer chose to transform South Africa. Born in 1908, his father was Judge-President of the Orange Free State, and his grandfather was Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony. As South Africa's leading Silk, Fischer had nothing to gain from placing his skills at the disposal of a struggle offering no direct benefits. He paid the ultimate price: persecuted and jailed by the Apartheid regime, he died of cancer in 1975, diagnosed in prison. Nelson Mandela considered him the greatest South African. At the first Bram Fischer Memorial lecture in June 1995, Mandela explained: "Bram was a courageous man who followed the most difficult course any person could choose to follow. He challenged his own people because he felt that what they were doing was morally wrong."
Maison des Avocats in Dakar houses Senegal's Bar and was the home of Dr. Lamine Guèye, Senegal's first lawyer, who died in 1968. Admitted to the French Bar in 1921, Guèye mentored Senegal's independence leaders, including Leopold Senghor. An early anti-fascist and advocate of women's human rights, Guèye emerged in 1937 as leader of the French section of Workers International. La loi Lamine Guèye granted French citizenship to all inhabitants of France's overseas colonies on May 7, 1946. Guèye was President of Senegal's legislature and is credited with laying foundations for inclusive politics.
Centenarian Abdoulaye Wade is Senegal's oldest living president and senior-most lawyer and law professor. He was founding dean of the faculty of law and economic sciences at Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar. Professor Wade was an outstanding advocate with clients including Ahmed Ben Bella, Houari Boumediene, Omar Bongo, and Elf Aquitaine. He was also an energetic advocate of open government and alternance in a de facto single-party state. Even as a professor, his modest home in Dakar was a city landmark.
Moleleki Didwell Mokama was Botswana's first indigenous lawyer and first ambassador. At independence in 1966, he was designated High Commissioner to Britain, with concurrent accreditation to all six member states of the European Economic Community. He was also Botswana's first indigenous Attorney-General and first Chief Justice. Like Mandela, Mokama was a product of Fort Hare University. At the Inns of Court in London, he was a pupil of Dingle Foot Q.C. He served on the Board of De Beers. Botswana's rigorous governance of solid minerals earnings owes much to his temperance and institutionalized legality. As Attorney-General, Mokama persuaded the government against imposing emergency rule despite pressure from Apartheid South Africa. As Chief Justice, he ensured the ruling party did not alter law to overturn unpopular judgments. When he died in 1997, the country paused to pay respects.
The Need for Nigerian Lawyer-Statesmen
These five men were pioneering lawyer-statesmen for whom the law provided an Archimedean point to transform the world and institutions they met. At the price of considerable personal discomfort, and through commitment to goals greater than legalism, they chose to transcend the law by transforming its mechanisms. Millions of their compatriots are better for their having been lawyers. Where can we find their ilk in Nigeria?
Odinkalu, a lawyer and teacher, can be reached at [email protected] Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of The Guardian.
