A Lagos-based general services law firm, M. A. Bashua & Co, rolled out the drums in December to mark its 50th anniversary.
The ceremony, which held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, provided the firm an opportunity to honour its 89-year-old founder, Alhaji Mikhail Adisa Bashua (SAN).
The Managing Partner, Mr Aderemi Bashua, said the firm, which had produced a SAN in the person of its founder, a one-time Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Shafiu Bashua, and two high court judges, had a lot to celebrate.
One of the two judges who rose from the firm, Justice Abisoye Bashua of the Lagos State High Court, had the chamber’s founder – his father – to thank for his decision to become a judge.
“I did not want to be a judge at all. He (his father) called me one day and said, ‘You have the qualities to be a judge’.
“I told him I wasn’t interested. He didn’t say anything more. The next thing I saw was one of my uncles who told me, ‘Your father told you to consider becoming a judge and you’re saying you don’t want to. You have to do it oh!’ He talked to me a lot and encouraged me.
“So, I agreed to give it a thought. I consulted my senior, Justice Dawodu, and some other people and I changed my mind. Now, I have no regrets at all. I can see what he saw then.”
The judge said he was glad he listened to his father’s instructions back when he practised under him, noting that the notes he took then as a lawyer were today helpful to him when writing his judgments.
The other judge, Justice Kafeel Dawodu, who is senior to Justice Bashua on the bench, said there was no way to write the story of his career without a mention of the octogenarian Bashua.
Justice Dawodu said, “I thank God for making today possible to gather in honour of our father. I cannot say much about my life without mentioning Alhaji Bashua and the chambers of Alhaji Bashua. I am one of those who benefited immensely from his wisdom and guidance.”
The old Bashua said young lawyers must uphold professional ethics, if they must go far in legal practice.
He said, “Upholding the profession’s etiquettes will get you anywhere you want to go. Never allow overburdened interests to becloud you as a lawyer; the client’s interest should always come first.
“Every upcoming lawyer should see this profession as a very interesting one; it should never be seen as a chaotic, problematic and difficult work. Once, as a lawyer, you enjoy what you do, the sky is the limit.”
The chamber’s Managing Partner, Aderemi, said the firm had many landmark court decisions to its credit.
Aderemi said, “The firm’s continuous legal practice and consultancy services have been mostly recognised in several ground-breaking cases, one of which is the case of Mohammed v. Olawunmi (1990) 2 N WLR (Part 133) R 458 SC.”
The ceremony, which held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, provided the firm an opportunity to honour its 89-year-old founder, Alhaji Mikhail Adisa Bashua (SAN).
The Managing Partner, Mr Aderemi Bashua, said the firm, which had produced a SAN in the person of its founder, a one-time Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Shafiu Bashua, and two high court judges, had a lot to celebrate.
One of the two judges who rose from the firm, Justice Abisoye Bashua of the Lagos State High Court, had the chamber’s founder – his father – to thank for his decision to become a judge.
“I did not want to be a judge at all. He (his father) called me one day and said, ‘You have the qualities to be a judge’.
“I told him I wasn’t interested. He didn’t say anything more. The next thing I saw was one of my uncles who told me, ‘Your father told you to consider becoming a judge and you’re saying you don’t want to. You have to do it oh!’ He talked to me a lot and encouraged me.
“So, I agreed to give it a thought. I consulted my senior, Justice Dawodu, and some other people and I changed my mind. Now, I have no regrets at all. I can see what he saw then.”
The judge said he was glad he listened to his father’s instructions back when he practised under him, noting that the notes he took then as a lawyer were today helpful to him when writing his judgments.
The other judge, Justice Kafeel Dawodu, who is senior to Justice Bashua on the bench, said there was no way to write the story of his career without a mention of the octogenarian Bashua.
Justice Dawodu said, “I thank God for making today possible to gather in honour of our father. I cannot say much about my life without mentioning Alhaji Bashua and the chambers of Alhaji Bashua. I am one of those who benefited immensely from his wisdom and guidance.”
The old Bashua said young lawyers must uphold professional ethics, if they must go far in legal practice.
He said, “Upholding the profession’s etiquettes will get you anywhere you want to go. Never allow overburdened interests to becloud you as a lawyer; the client’s interest should always come first.
“Every upcoming lawyer should see this profession as a very interesting one; it should never be seen as a chaotic, problematic and difficult work. Once, as a lawyer, you enjoy what you do, the sky is the limit.”
The chamber’s Managing Partner, Aderemi, said the firm had many landmark court decisions to its credit.
Aderemi said, “The firm’s continuous legal practice and consultancy services have been mostly recognised in several ground-breaking cases, one of which is the case of Mohammed v. Olawunmi (1990) 2 N WLR (Part 133) R 458 SC.”
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