By Unini Chioma 

Notices have been sent to  lawyers seeking to be conferred with the rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) for the year 2021, ahead of the oral interview slated to hold between October 18 and 20.

In a mail addressed to the prospective SANs sighted by TheNigeriaLawyer, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee said the interview will hold by 11 am each day.

Notification to applicants read in part: “Pursuant to paragraph 5 of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee Guidelines 2018, you are invited to attend an oral interview, preparatory to the award of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, 2021.

“The interview will hold from 18th to 20th October 2021 by 9 am at the Main Court Room Foyer, Supreme Court of Nigeria.”

However, it was also gathered that the SAN rank seekers are to face a panel of selected serving and retired Supreme Court justices and senior lawyers for an oral interview as part of the last leg of the screening process.

Our correspondent was told by a highly placed official of the LPPC that the applicants would during the oral interview be subjected to rigorous interrogation to verify and confirm the authenticity of claims made in their individual application forms.

A total of 79 applicants are billed for the interview out of which a number of successful ones would be endorsed for final approval and conferment.

“I can confide in you that the oral interview will be tough and some will definitely fall by the wayside because it is primarily aimed at pruning down the 79 shortlisted applicants.

“The beauty of it is that the interview will be objective and open and anybody that sails through will be happy that he actually makes it on merit and that is how it is supposed to be”, the source said.

In another development, TheNigerialawyer gathered, that LPPC is working on new rules which may likely come into being in 2022.