A Description, Not a Title
Why “Barrister” Cannot Stand Before a Lawyer’s Name.
By Eyimofe Atake, SAN, PhD (Cantab)
I. The Memorandum and the Storm
On 13 July 2026, the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Mr. Kabir E. Akanbi, issued a memorandum under the title “Prohibition of the Use of the Title ‘Barrister’ as a Prefix to Names.”
He did so, on the face of the document, at the direction of the Honourable the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun. Within days of its circulation the memorandum had provoked a storm of commentary, much of it critical, some of it derisive, and a good deal of it uninformed. Voices have been raised to say that the Chief Justice should never have descended into so contentious a matter; that the directive is elitist; that it is an assault on a harmless custom of the Nigerian Bar.
