Age 34 is the youthful age of a person which is very important to a lawyer as well. This ‘gimmick’ as a word is defined by the Webster online dictionary to mean ‘a method or trick that is used to get people’s attention or to sell something’. This paper is a piece of advice to lawyers to observe and to make positive use of their life as the said age 34 is very tricky in the sense that at that age, one might be tricked into believing that he is still very young and having enough time but alas! He very soon finds himself at age 43 in the converse arrangement of age 34! Also, in my reasoned view, this age 34 has a lot of messages that it passes to a lawyer but only if that lawyer could discover these messages!
It is my observation that age 24 is not noticed until the figure 4 in 24 is placed to precede the 2 to become ‘42’, in which case, the age 42 is higher than age 24! Also, I have observed that age 34 becomes age 43, while age 35 becomes age 53, while age 36 becomes age 63, while age 37 becomes age 73 while age 38 becomes age 83 while age 39 becomes age 93! What all these analyses are explaining is that there are changes to one’s status and features in a gradual way as a result of these changes in numbers and that is the gimmick as being considered by this paper that is worthy of observation by every lawyer.
I wish that lawyers would be able to have in a long term plan, what they plan to become and achieve at the age of 34 and at the age of 43 either in the natural age or in their age of call at the bar as legal practitioners. I have observed some young lawyers who roam about confused about how and what to do with their practice. There is no gainful employment for them and the private practice that they have the opportunity to secure is not paying to expectation! I have always advised young lawyers to always consider learning as the most important decision in their first to the second year at the bar. They should try and bear the situation in their first two years and then, they can consider whether to stand on their own or to engage in public service or private companies. The reason is that there is nowhere that he finds himself that his experiences in private practice will not be useful for him. I observed some young lawyers that they feel very comfortable queuing at the gate of the Corporate Affairs Commission- CAC-to make some stipends and some find no need for further training and or development in the legal practice or profession so far they can make some amount of money. This is really not a better decision! Money should not be the first thing to consider though I understand the economy might have been responsible for such a decision.
My advice is for such lawyers to consider more exposure to private practice along with the CAC works that they do. One best way that I consider that a lawyer can learn rapidly is learning through the litigation process, though, in the commercial field, there are other great things to specially learn. So, if the young lawyer desires the commercial field, he should find his employment in that area where his passion is and he should continue to do that till he achieves greatness. In that way, at age 34, he would be able to count on his successes. Also, at age 43, his successes would have multiplied and so on and so forth. This is the consideration of this paper. If it is public service, find your way in at the early stage and if it is a private practice, find your way early in life before the time is fast spent either in commercial or human rights or corporate or lecturing or any other area of law. Much more importantly, time is of the essence. Some senior lawyers are quick to always tell their junior lawyers that they are senior lawyers even without any inquiry or dispute with them! This is in my humble view, a sort of inferiority complex as you do not have to tell someone that you are a senior lawyer rather, it is a quality that would show in you by show and display of professional experiences and exposures which some senior lawyers who are not well involved might not have to show or display!
Finally, therefore, it is my humble advice that it is up to every lawyer whether young or senior to ponder and make plans as to what he would become while at the age of 34 and while at the age of 43 either in his natural life or in his year of call to bar. My question now is ‘what would you be as a lawyer at the age of 34 and what would you be at the age of 43?!’
Email: hameed_ajibola@yahoo.com
