Sixty-eight new silks, with a pointed warning

Sixty-eight new silks, with a pointed warning

Chief Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun swore in 68 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria on 12 October and told them the rank places no one beyond accountability.

October 17, 2026

Chief Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun swore in 68 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria on 12 October 2026, at the special session of the Supreme Court in Abuja opening the 2026/2027 legal year.

The class

The class comprises 67 advocates and one academic, Professor Nnamdi Onyeka Obiaraeri. The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee approved the list at its 174th plenary session on 23 July, required a pre-swearing-in induction, and barred congratulatory advertisements and goodwill notices (Channels Television).

The message

The CJN told the new silks that the rank does not place them above accountability. She called it a call to leadership, urged humility and ethical conduct, and pointed to disciplinary action taken against senior members of the profession in the previous legal year as proof that no rank substitutes for ethics.

Why it matters

The warning lands in a year in which the profession’s own disciplinary machinery is under strain: the Supreme Court has removed the direct appeal route from the LPDC, and a SAN’s suspension is on hold in the Federal High Court. For firms, new silk changes court-room capacity and pricing; for The Meridian’s lawyer rankings, it is one input among many, alongside the transactions and disputes on the record. Read our earlier analysis, Three routes to silk.

Photo: Clara Sanchiz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (illustrative).

The Meridian Editorial Team

Andrew U. — Editorial Director | Damilare A. — Intelligence Director | Amaka Nwoye — Senior Legal Research Analyst | Salome Mensah — Market Intelligence Analyst | May Ndlovu — Editorial Researcher | K.K. Lawal — Senior Correspondent | The Meridian’s editorial team brings experience across West African legal markets, commercial law, market intelligence and structured research. Our standard is simple: evidence first, independent judgement, and analysis grounded in how legal work happens in practice.