WHETHER A LEGAL PRACTITIONER, NOT IN LAW PRACTICE, CAN BE A COMMISSION AGENT?

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WHETHER A LEGAL PRACTITIONER, NOT IN LAW PRACTICE, CAN BE A COMMISSION AGENT? 

by Branham Chima. 
Subscribe: https://branhamchima.substack.com/embed 

✓ DEFINITION(S): 
• Legal Practitioner: is an individual who has been admitted to the bar and holds the qualifications to practice law, offering legal advice, representation, and services to clients.

• Law Practice: refers to the professional activities, services, and work carried out by legal practitioners. 

• Commission Agent: is a person or entity who acts as an intermediary, typically on behalf of a principal, to facilitate the sale or purchase of goods, services, or other transactions in exchange for a commission or fee. 

✓ ANSWER: 
Yes. A legal practitioner not in the practice of law can be an agent who collects commission for services rendered. 

Rule 7(2)(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007, specifically prohibits a lawyer from simultaneously practicing as a legal practitioner and being involved in the business of a commission agent. In essence, what this rule restricts is the active practice of law while concurrently engaging in commission agent activities. It does not prevent a legal practitioner from having a separate role as a commission agent, but it does prevent them from practicing law while actively carrying out commission agent duties. 

Hear the Court in Godwin Ukah & Ors. V. Christopher A. Onyia & Ors. (CA/E/295/2008, 21 Jan 2016) per H.M. Ogunwumiju, JCA: ‘Rule 7(2)(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007 RPC, therefore forbids a lawyer from practicing as a legal practitioner while personally engaged in the business of a commission agent. A proper dissection of this Rule shows that what is forbidden is practicing as a lawyer, while engaged in the business of a commission agent. In other words, the active part of the provision/prohibition is practice as a legal practitioner. The provision does not forbid a legal practitioner from engaging in the business of a commission agent. Rather, it forbids a legal practitioner engaged in the business of commissioned agent from practicing as a legal practitioner while so engaged. In construing this provision, it is pertinent to note that the qualification of a person as a legal practitioner is distinct from practice as a legal practitioner while the former borders on the mere appellation of one as a lawyer upon being called to the Nigerian Bar, the latter is a question of fact and evidence.’ 

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