A retired Supreme Court Justice, Justice Amina Adamu Augie, has expressed concern on indecent dressing among female lawyers.
Justice Augie, while speaking at an event organised by the FCT chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association Women’s Forum (NBAWF) with the theme: “Indecent Dressing: Its Effect on Female Lawyers’ Dress Code, urged lawyers to see themselves as an important part of somebody else’s life.
She said lawyers should dress in a way that inspires confidence because they are supposed to be presentable representing clients.
“When you come before me as a lawyer and you are not properly dressed, no one will tell you to dress well by the time you are appearing before me again because I’ll also talk to your principal on why he allowed you to leave the chamber without being properly dressed.
“As a lawyer, you need to know who you are because it is when you identify who you are that you will be able to instill confidence in others and your client.
“No lawyer dresses indecently in my court that I spare. As a lawyer, we should be disciplined, so that when you say you are a lawyer, you are able to instill confidence in others so that when you speak, they’ll listen to you,” she said.
Former attorney-general and commissioner for justice in Sokoto State, Mr Suleiman Usman (SAN), said no lawyer who is indecently dressed should be given an audience in court.
According to him, a lawyer who is indecently dressed in court is setting a bad precedence for those coming behind.
“To be properly dressed as a lawyer is very important because it says a lot about who you are. It could lead to disciplinary action because the bad conduct of any lawyer could rub off on others.
“For a lawyer to be respected and win the confidence and trust of his client, he must present himself in a decent manner,” he said.
Governing Council member of the Nigerian Bar Association Women’s Forum, Hajia Mohammed Adama, called on parents to be good examples to their daughters.
According to her, as lawyers and mothers, the forum is expected to instill good values in the younger ones.
“We are lawyers and we impact positively the society and society looks up to us as well, so, we must conduct ourselves in a manner that is acceptable, including our dress.
“You will agree with me that with what you see on the internet daily, our societal value is eroding and we can allow that to creep into the legal profession.
“The legal profession is a noble one and we can allow indecent dressing to impact negatively on the good name the, profession has earned ma y years ago,” Adama said.
