Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is a title that may be conferred on legal practitioners in
Nigeria of not less than ten years' standing and who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession. It is the equivalent of the rank of
Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister ...
in the
United Kingdom, from which
Nigeria became
independent in 1960 (
Republic 1963), as well as in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, the
Northern Territory, and
Canada (except
Ontario and
Quebec). Several countries use similar designations such as
Senior Counsel,
President's Counsel
President's Counsel (postnominal PC) is an eminent lawyer who is appointed by the President of Sri Lanka to be one of the "President's Counsel learned in the law". The term is also recognized as an honorific which replaced the practice of appoi ...
, State Counsel, Senior Advocate, and President's Advocate. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria is said to have been admitted to the "Inner Bar", as distinguished from the "Outer", or "Utter", Bar, consisting of junior advocates (''See
Call to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
'').
The conferment is made in accordance with the Legal Practitioners Act 207 Section 5 (1) by the Legal Practitioners' Privileges Committee, headed by the
Chief Justice (as Chairman), and consist of the Attorney-General, one Justice of the
Supreme Court (chosen by the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General for a term of two years, renewable on one occasion only), the President of the Court of Appeal, five of the Chief Judges of the
States (chosen by the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General for a term of two years, renewable on one occasion only), the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, and five legal practitioners who are Senior Advocates of Nigeria (chosen by the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General for a term of two years, renewable on one occasion only).
The title was first conferred on April 3, 1975. The recipients were Chief
F.R.A. Williams and
Dr Nabo Graham-Douglas. As of July 7, 2011 344 lawyers had become Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Chief (Mrs.) Folake Solanke is the first female recipient of the rank of SAN 6 years after in 1981.
Since 1975, a varying number of advocates in Nigeria have consecutively been conferred with the rank, with the exception of years- 1976, 1977 and 1994. The conferment is however restricted to fewer than 30 advocates per annum and is made by the Chief Justice of Nigeria on the recommendations of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee.
As of 9 September 2019, a total of 526 advocates had become Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
[{{Cite web, title=About Us, url=https://san.ng/about-us/, last=SanAdmin, website=SAN, language=en-US, access-date=2020-05-26]
References
Law of Nigeria
Senior Advocates of Nigeria