ADOPTING A LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION: A CRITICAL REVIEW FROM NIGERIA’S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Legal profession/practice has for a long time thrived in Nigeria basically as a sole proprietorship and general partnership in some cases. Under these two forms of business organizations, the sole legal proprietor or each partner in a general partnership may be personally liable to third parties for any damages caused in the course of rendering professional services. Efforts to limit the liability of partners in such a partnership by professionals led to the emergence of limited liability partnership. The paper is a comparative study of the different forms of legal practice business in Nigeria as exemplified by sole-practitioner-ship, sole proprietorship and partnership, with a view to ascertaining the relative advantages and disadvantages inherent in each of them. The paper finds that with the introduction of limited liability partnership under CAMA 2020, legal practitioners can now form limited liability partnership so as to maximize the benefits of flexibility of a company. In this paper, we adopt the doctrinal method of legal research approach. The paper finds that limited liability partnership confers liability protection on partners of a firm of legal practitioners. The paper concludes by recommending that limited liability partnership as a new form of business organization be adopted as one of the ideal forms for legal practice in Nigeria.