Professor Osinbajo Harps On Re examination Of One Year Law School.

 

 

Professor Yemi Osinbajo, immediate Vice President of Nigeria, has suggested that the one year law school should be reaxamined and set aside arguing that instead Lawyers should invest more on online learning.

Maintaining that Artificial Intelligence is gradually taking the tasks of lawyers, Osinbajo who was speaking  on Friday in Yenagoa during this year's law Week of Nigeria Bar Association, Yenagoa Branch, with the theme setting  the pace: law, leadership and transformational development, stated that  AI needs to be integrated into the law Curriculum.

Osinbajo who spoke as the key note speaker at the event also called on lawyers to shun all forms of corruption but embrace integrity maintaining that nobody wants to invest in a copy country.

He said:"Our one year legal school must be re examined. The days of law school should be  over. We must embrace online learning.  We need to integrate AI into our Curriculum. AI will soon take over our tasks as Lawyers.

"What we should be looking at now is an enhanced curriculum for legal training if students have to be competitive in the years to come. We must also integrate legal technology and AI into the curriculum, learning how to critically assess inputs from systems like ChatGpt and other AI tools.

 "Machines are now doing our work faster so we need to asses what AI tools are doing. Legal education must now embrace critical thinking. There is currently an AI legal assistant assisting layers. These systems are becoming more intelligent than you can imagine.

"Lawyers must now focus on the aspect of legal practice that machines cannot properly do or are not able to replicate yet, so we must now develop skills in determining what ought to be done in the clients best interest-ethical reasoning and interpretation skills.

"The pace of technological advancement today, rise of globalization, the democratization of information have already transformed every profession. Yet in the legal profession, we are  bound by precedents and tradition and some bad habits have remained stubbornly resistant to change.

"Our profession needs a new vision, a new set  of tools in a new era and that is so whether we like it or not. We are in a vastly different era, than when the tools we used today were designed.It is scary that a lot of the work lawyers do or used to do can now be done much faster and much more accurately by technology. 

 The Professor continued: "The systems don't get tired, don't go on leave and do not ask for extra pay. These tools are becoming much cheaper and like mobile phones, they will be available everywhere and to every one very soon.

"Technology is fast replacing basic legal analysis and opinion writing. A big part of our cake has been bitten off by technology and more will be bitten up very soon and very quickly.

"Globalization has made legal expertise easily available in real time anywhere, what is happening now before our very eyes is the most profound revolution that our profession has ever experienced, a revolution that will radically change the delivery of legal services and even adjudication forever.

"We are no longer the gate keepers and custodian of basic legal knowledge, that is all gone, but more importantly, we are no longer the custodian of legal reasoning and legal opinions..We need to have more cross disciplinary trainings for lawyers. Law, data Science and design thinking, data privacy, algorithm bias, designs of legal tech systems.

"And because AI systems will increasingly take over legal tasks, like legal research, drafting and even basic reasoning, the true value of human lawyers will no longer lie in our ability to find the law or to summarize it , machines can already do that faster and more accurately.

Lawyers  he advised "must now focus on the aspect of legal practice that machines cannot properly do or are not able to replicate yet, so we must now develop skills in determining what ought to be done in the clients best interest-ethical reasoning and interpretations skills."

Maintaining that the legal profession is crumbling under the weight of corruption, ethical violation and poor standings, he disclosed that "stories of counsels acting as conduit for  giving of bribes to judicial officers is now  rife.

"Legal Profession is crumbling under the weight of corruption, ethical violation and poor standings , stories of counsels acting as conduit for  giving of bribes to judicial officers is rife .The perception that our system of justice is corrupt and the bar and bench are culpable is enough damage.

"We should uphold the the integrity of the profession nobody wants to in a nation where corrupt judicial officers exist we must invest in discipline. The future is here unfolding before us.

"The perception that our system of justice is corrupt and the bar and bench are culpable is enough damage. Our profession is in a radically new dispensation, a dispensation created by the most consequential advancement of new technology perhaps the most turbulent and uncertain times in living memory." He concluded.

Declaring the plenary session open, Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, also admitted that all are now   threatened by AI.adding that  "if it goes this way, alot of us will loose our jobs.

Stating that it is also good for the society  as a dynamic one, he maintained that technology is already used to them. 

He thanked NBA Yenagoa Branch for organizing the event adding that it is almost becoming an internal event.

Ascribing his victory at the court to the lawyers he said:" I'm one person that will always  acknowledge the rule of law and the big role lawyers play.

" You all know the history of how this governor and his deputy came about. Each time the masters of ceremony say miracle governor, the miracle didn't come from heaven. The miracle was through you.  

"This is an organ of government that we must all work towards guiding because if the judiciary fails, we all have failed. For me and this government, the principal thing about us is the rule of law.This government will continue to respect the rule of law and guide very jealousy  and the independence of judiciary.

"The chief judge seated here will attest to it that we have not unduly anytime influenced the judiciary. We want to continue to work in the rule of law where justice will prevail and where justice will be served in an impartial manner and form. 

"I want to appreciate you all for gathering today and dissecting the issues that  affect us. If this country must survive you have to make it survive. If you stand by the truth and by the rule of law, I'm sure that this country will survive as you know you are the last hope of the common man. 

"If not for you, I will not be standing here today as governor of Bayelsa State. So be ready as  anytime we gather like  this, we must look at own   interest and the interest of our country. The interest of the children and the interest  of generations yet unborn."

Speaking earlier, Somina Johnbull, the chairman  of Nigeria Bar Association, Yenagoa Branch, said that what was  being witness  is still a successive  growth in terms of leadership. "And I'm sure that NBA will continue to be in good  shape as I bow out next month.

He thanked Osinbajo for honouring his  invitation  adding that in the next three days, he will bless them with his wealth of knowledge.

He said that NBA will set up a committee  at the end of the  law Week to study the  judicial system in Bayelsa State.