LPPC elevates 68 lawyers to SAN rank

The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) has approved the conferment of the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on 68 legal practitioners.

The decision was taken at the committee’s 174th plenary session held on Thursday in Abuja under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.

In the 2025 exercise, the LPPC elevated 57 legal practitioners to the rank, comprising 56 advocates and one academic.

The Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court and Secretary of the LPPC, Kabir Akanbi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday.

According to the committee, the SAN rank is conferred on legal practitioners who have demonstrated exceptional distinction either as courtroom advocates or as academics who have made significant contributions to legal scholarship.

Holders of the rank sit in the Inner Bar, enjoy priority and right of audience in courts over regular advocates and wear distinctive silk gowns and other ceremonial attire that distinguish them from other legal practitioners.

The LPPC said all successful applicants must attend and successfully complete the mandatory Pre-Swearing-In Induction Programme before they can be formally conferred with the rank. It added that the date for the induction programme would be announced later.

The committee also cautioned the successful applicants against publishing or encouraging the publication of congratulatory messages, advertisements or goodwill notices relating to their nomination or conferment.

It warned that any violation of the directive could attract sanctions under Paragraph 25(1) of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Guidelines and Rule 39(3) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, 2023.

The LPPC announced that the formal swearing-in ceremony for the 68 successful applicants will hold on October 12, 2026.

The statement listed the successful advocate applicants (loading) and named Prof. Nnamdi Onyeka Obiaraeri as the successful candidate in the academic category.

The rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Nigeria’s highest professional distinction for legal practitioners, was introduced under the Legal Practitioners Act and was first conferred on April 3, 1975, on Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade (F.R.A.) Williams and Dr. Nabo Graham-Douglas.

The honour is regarded as the Nigerian equivalent of the King’s Counsel (KC) in the United Kingdom and is awarded by the LPPC to lawyers who have demonstrated outstanding excellence in advocacy or legal scholarship.