Nigeria, June 22 -- The legal career of Joseph Chu'ma Otteh, whose mortal remains were committed to earth on 20 June, could easily have been different. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife in 1988, very much one of the best students in the set. In 1989, Joe enrolled as a lawyer in Nigeria. He had every opportunity to deploy his prodigious talents and considerable skills in the pursuit of personal fortune and no one would have begrudged him. Instead, he chose the path of legacy and impact through the pursuit of an unpredictable career in the defence of the excluded and marginalised.

As a lawyer, Joe worried about two intractable and inter-related problems: delay in the delivery of justice...