Strengthening Mutual Respect Between the Bar and the Bench: A Call for Balance and Civility.

Strengthening Mutual Respect Between the Bar and the Bench: A Call for Balance and Civility. 

At the 2025 Nigerian Bar Association Lokoja Branch Law Week, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, delivered a thought provoking speech during the panel session on “Mutual Respect Between the Bar and the Bench: Challenges and Prospects.”

He reminded the legal community that the challenges facing the Bar Bench relationship cannot be laid at the feet of any single person. As he put it, “No singular lawyer is the problem; the problem is all of us.” His words carried a sober reminder that the duty to restore civility and respect within the profession lies on both sides.

Aare Akinboro noted that many practicing lawyers will one day ascend to the Bench, and when that time comes, they must embody compassion and civility in their dealings with counsel. Conversely, Judges in their exalted roles must also extend the same courtesy and fairness to lawyers. Mutual respect, he stressed, cannot be a one sided expectation but must be the guiding principle of both arms of the profession.

To give practical weight to this call, he distributed copies of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) to practitioners present at the Law week event, urging them not only to be familiar with its provisions but to consciously apply them in their daily practice. 

The RPC, he observed, provides clear guidance for how lawyers should conduct themselves before the courts, but what remains missing is a codified framework guiding how judges should interact with lawyers. He therefore proposed the development of such a framework, one that would institutionalize balance, civility, and mutual respect between the Bar and the Bench.

Reflecting on the broader implications, he concluded that true nation building through law cannot happen without this synergy. 

The Bar must uphold decorum and respect for the Bench, while the Bench must reciprocate with compassion and dignity. Only then will justice delivery become not just effective, but humane anchored on the mutual recognition that both sides are indispensable partners in the pursuit of justice.

His interventions drew warm applause from the audience, with one participant describing him as “the true bride of the Bar,” a reflection of the deep respect and acceptance he enjoys across the legal community.