Oladipo Samuel had his LL.B from the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria in 2013. After the completion of his NYSC programme in Ekiti State, 2015, he went to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus and was called to Bar in 2018. Subsequently, he began his legal practice with Abiodun Dada & Co. and later joined Sunday Olawepo & Co. In this interview with ABIODUN BOLUJOKO, Samuel, who is a member of the Young Lawyers’ Forum (YLF), Ilorin branch, shares his most daunting experience in the legal profession. Excerpt:
I’ve been handling cases in court but the one I handled sometimes ago, which bordered on tenancy matter, will continue to ring bell in my mind. That was the first time I will be going into hearing.
In this case, I had a witness to call that will testify, the witness happened to be our former litigation secretary in the office. In that matter, I was also to do an examination, I had pre-arranged the questions I wanted to ask in my mind, but unfortunately, little did I know that the magistrate would frown at my manner of questioning. In the process, I lost my control and I couldn’t remember those questions I’ve wanted to ask again, I had to be asking my senior collegue what question I should ask next as I was already confused. At the end of the day, after I had ended my submission and said ‘that is all for my witness’, I quickly remembered that I was supposed to tender a letter of authority through my client and letter of intention to recover premises. I quickly informed the magistrate of this, she got furious over this and asked, “Is this your first time in court”? I replied in affirmative. She corrected and further adviced me to always go to court with my principal and seniors so as to learn and gain more experience in the job.
