Nigeria, Aug. 25 -- In 1981, Chief Gani Fawehinmi was already 16 years at the Nigerian Bar and one of its brightest stars. Already a breakout litigator, Gani had also become a pioneer in the enterprise of legal publishing. One decade earlier, he had served the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as its national publicity secretary. Among the lawyers of his or, in fact, any other generation active at the Bar, there were few who could claim to be more accomplished.

The hallmark of excellence in legal practice in Nigeria, the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was a mere six years old at the time. Then - as now - the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) was the statutory body established to consider and determine eligible appli...