17/07/2026
How to become a lawyer in Nigeria...
Many people have asked me to provide a guide on how to become a lawyer in Nigeria. Some desire to study law, while some want their children or siblings to study law but do not know where to start from.
With this single post, I will explain all you need to know about becoming a lawyer in Nigeria.
These are the stages:
👉You need to have WAEC or NECO result. In these results, you MUST have at least C6 as your least grade in the following subjects:
📍English Language
📍Mathematics
📍Christian Religious Studies/Islamic Religious Studies
📍Government
📍Literature-in-Engligh
📍Biology
If you score below C6 in any of these subjects, you may not be offered admission.
👉Identify your choice of University, whether Federal, State or Private university. Be sure the University is accredited to offer Law, otherwise, you will be wasting your years in that school.
👉Write JAMB and select Use of English, Government, Literature-in-English and the religious studies as your four subjects for JAMB. These are the mandatory subjects for law.
👉Know the cut off mark for your choice of university and do your best to meet the cut off. To play safe, target at least 250 marks in JAMB.
👉If POST UTME is required in your school of choice, write it and pass.
👉Once you gain admission into the Faculty of Law of your choice University, be ready to study law for 5 years which is the standard number of years.
As a Nigerian, plan for 6-7 years because Nigerian strikes might happen to you.
However, if you are a graduate of another course before coming to study law, you won't need to start from Year 1. You will start from Year 2 but offer the year one courses with the Year 1 students.
👉At the university, you will offer compulsory courses and elective courses. The elective courses are courses you choose from based on your area of interest.
For instance, when I was in Final year, we were to choose between Family Law, Environmental Law and Oil and Gas Law as the elective courses and I chose Family Law because that's my area of interest.
👉When you graduate, meaning no carryovers, you will be enlisted for Law School.
Note: If you stop as a University graduate, you are as good as a normal graduate from other departments. You are not a lawyer and cannot do what a lawyer will do. You are just a law graduate.
At the University level, you learn theories of laws, cases, laws, principles and general knowledge.
👉You will attend the Law School for 1 year and offer 5 compulsory courses which are:
📍Criminal Litigation
📍Civil Litigation
📍Corporate Law Practice
📍Professional Ethics and Skills
📍Property Law Practice
Law School is where you will learn the practical aspects of being a lawyer such as drafting legal documents, how to go and speak in court, filing, argue cases, win cases, how to engage clients and so on.
👉At Law School, focus is required. You MUST pass all the 5 courses during your Bar Finals Exams. You are graded with your poorest grade.
That is, if you have 4 As and 1 C. You automatically scored C which is Second Class Upper.
If you score 4 Bs and 1 C, you will fall in Second Class Lower.
👉Once you have passed the Bar Finals Exams, you will be called to the Nigerian Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
This means you can do anything a qualified lawyer can do such as go to court and draft legal documents.
This is when you can boldly say, "I am a Lawyer!"
👉After your Call to Bar, it's then left for you to decide your areas of strength based on what you studied at the University and Law School and make that your area of specialisation.
A lawyer can do all things but a lawyer needs to be an expert in one or two fields and not be Jack of all trade, conga conga for all.
If you have interest in studying law, now you know where to start from.
🚨NOTE: NYSC is not a requirement for becoming a lawyer. Some of us became lawyers even before going for NYSC and some didn't go for NYSC at all because they had passed the age limit and got exemption letters.
My backup page is The Legal Altar
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