A keynote presentation to law students at the Faculty of Law, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria on how to build a successful legal career in today's new legal economy. It was presented by Senator Iyere Ihenyen, Lead Partner, Infusion Lawyers.

2. Think of yourself and today’s legal
marketplace as a David-and-Goliath story
https://blogs-images.forbes.com/steveolenski/files/2014/07/david-versus-goliath.jpg

3. Nigeria: Unemployment Rate is getting higher
–official figures

4. Legal jobs are even slimmer in Nigeria.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1687038/images/o-UNEMPLOYMENT-facebook.jpg

5. • Less than 30% of Fresh Law School graduates
get employed in the first 1-3 years.
• About 50% end up underemployed in the legal
industry;
• About 20% drop their wigs and gowns to take
up nonlaw-related jobs; start an LLM program;
become conditional sole practitioners; or start a
business outside legal practice.
Overview of Nigeria’s legal
marketplace in numbers- unofficial

6. Law graduate employment rates in the United States

7. Law graduate employment rates in the United States

8. • In 2016, 88.0% and 87.3% of postgraduates and graduates
were employed, respectively.
• Graduates and postgraduates had lower unemployment rates
in the labour market than non-graduates.
• The unemployment rate for nongraduates was 5.9%, double
that of graduates at 2.9%.
• Law, Economics and Management (LEM) graduates earned,
on average, £1,000 more than STEM graduates. The young
LEM graduates earned £2,000 more than young STEM
graduates.
Graduate employment rates in the UK
Graduate Labour Market statistics 2016, April 2017, UK Departm

9. Law students in Nigeria face a BIG challenge
Blox Images--
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ditorial/a/b8/ab8fd018-bfff-11e3-adf2-0017a43b2370/53456e022c414.image.jpg
• Big Law pay big but job vacancies
are low;
• Small Law pay little but vacancies
not as low;
• Legal departments of public
agencies are not getting bigger;
• Academic-career opportunities
are slim;
• Legal education in Nigeria trains
law students to be employees,
not solos and independent
lawyers

10. Are you really prepared for today’s highly
competitive, dynamic, and demanding legal
profession?
http://www.marksanborn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/prepare.png

11. Be attentive. Be focused. Be determined.
http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/meter-start-in-business-suits-picture-id170052296?s=170667a

12. Becoming a 21st-Century Lawyer in Today’s
Legal Marketplace
We will focus on the following 4 areas:
1. Adapting to a New Legal Economy
2. Getting Started: Do a SWOT Analysis
3. Succeeding as a 21st-Century Lawyer
4. Beyond the ‘I’ Lawyer, Become a T-shaped
Lawyer

13. Don’t strive. THRIVE!
“Repositioning yourself in today’s new legal
economy requires you to adapt to clients’
expanding needs. As clients’ needs are
changing every day, so must the level of your
adaptation as a lawyer. Adapting proactively is
what repositioning is all about, not striving to
survive. Thrive.”
How to become a 21st-Cenury Lawyer in a New Legal Economy
by Senator Iyere Ihenyen

14. Times are changing. Lawyers need to change
http://kannadagottilla.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/time-to-change.jpg
Clients have become more
sophisticated and now expect
lawyers to add real value to their
businesses and affairs in an
accessible, professional, and
efficient manner with effective and
excellent communication.

15. Don’t just dream about becoming a successful lawyer.
Become Joseph the Dreamer who sees ahead.
Spot the difference.

16. Some areas of law you should take interest in.
"
Commercial Law
http://www.mlsvani.com/images/Commercial%20&%20Corporate%20Law.jpg

17. Commercial Law
• As global crude oil prices drop, the Nigerian economy is
gradually diversifying.
• In the process of diversification, non-oil sectors are coming up
fast.
• Entertainment, financial services, power, and telecom are growing
fast.
• This development has resulted in the need for regulation and
project-finance advisory for lawyers.
• As Nigeria’s market expands, foreign investors will also continually
need quality legal advice before taking decisions on Foreign
Direct Investments (FDI) and private equity investments in the
country.

18. Some areas of law you should take interest in.
http://libertyvillelawfirm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/civil-litigation.jpg
Civil and Criminal Litigation
http://county-legal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/criminal_defense.jpg

19. Civil and Criminal Litigation
• In civil litigation, old civil procedure rules are giving way to new
ones across the country, giving rise to lawyer’s needs for
modern-advocacy skills. Criminal litigation is not any different.
• The Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 has significantly
changed the dynamics in Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
• Along with the computer-evidence friendly Evidence Act 2011,
lawyer’s knowledge and skills will continue to be in demand as
old acts become new crimes.
Some areas of law you should take interest in.

20. Some areas of law you should take interest in.
Information Technology
http://journeyofit.blogspot.com/

21. Information Technology
• Nigeria’s fast-growing mobile and web technology is also
creating new opportunities. e-Banking, e-commerce, and e-
governance have changed the way we do private and public
business.
• To effectively regulate her cyberspace, Nigeria will enact new
laws.
• Already, Cybercrime (Prohibition, etc.) Act 2015 is now the
governing law on cyberspace as far as electronic-related
criminal offences are concerned.
• Nigeria will need cyber lawyers.
Some areas of law you should take interest in.

22. Some areas of law you should take interest in.
Intellectual Property
http://cms.ipressroom.com.s3.amazonaws.com

23. Some areas of law you should take interest in.
Intellectual Property
• Nigeria’s entertainment industry will continue to grow, creating
new opportunities that will increasingly create intellectual
property rights (IPR) in Nigeria.
• The need to adequately protect and exploit these IPRs such as
copyrights, designs, trademarks, and patents will increase.
• Entrepreneurs, creative businesses, companies and industries will
increasingly demand IP protection services.
• This demand will create opportunities for lawyers who specialize
in IP.

24. Some areas of law you should take interest in.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
http://www.masoncontractors.org

25. Some areas of law you should take interest in.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
• ADR has been growing fast in Nigeria.
• Many law firms now have ADR departments.
• Privately established ADR organizations or bodies now provide
ADR services and professional training.
• New Civil Procedure Rules are increasingly recognizing ADR
settlements and integrating ADR into the court system.
• This ADR growth is creating new opportunities for both young
and senior lawyers (including retired judges) who have acquired
the relevant skills to take professional advantage of them.

26. Browse Legal500.com
Search for law firms in Nigeria. After noting the law firms in the list,
read Legal 500’s Legal Market Overview for Nigeria.

27. SWOT helps you find your career path by
helping you identify your strengths and
weaknesses so you take best advantage of the
opportunities around you and tackle any
career threats.
Getting Started: Do a SWOT Analysis

28. • SWOT is an abbreviation for Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
• A SWOT analysis is essential for anyone that
wants to maximize his or her abilities.
Get your SWOT Analysis right.

29. SWOT will reposition you professionally.
Ytimg
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3bctB6Ppkg4/maxresdefault.jpg
Whether you like it or not, in
today’s legal marketplace,
you must position yourself as
a brand—a professional
brand, not just any individual.

30. What can you achieve with a SWOT analysis of
yourself?
SWOT will help you:
1. increase your value, whatever position you are now;
2. improve your competitiveness as a to-be lawyer;
3. understand your strengths and make you invest more in
your identified strengths until you get to a level where it
creates opportunities for you;
4. realize your weaknesses, thus you will know the pitfalls to
watch out for and how to minimize the risks of performing
poorly on any task assigned to you at work; and
5. realize your full potentials as a legal professional.

31. Strengths: 7 questions you must ask yourself
1. What are the things you know you are really great at?
2. What do others say you are great at?
3. What do you do better than anyone else?
4. What unique resources can you draw upon that others can't?
5. What do people see as your strengths?
6. What makes you stand out from the crowd?
7. What is your professional Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?—
what makes you stand out from the crowd?

32. Quick Tip?
To get the right answers, writing down
your personal characteristics can help
since most of your positive
characteristics will most likely be some
of your strengths.

33. Think of yourself as a brand ….
AMD Law Group
http://www.amdlawgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Protecting-Your-TM.jpg
… a
professional
brand

34. Weaknesses: Identifying your Weakness, the Hard
Part
“Not knowing your weaknesses, is a weakness. Not
admitting your weaknesses is a weakness. Identifying and
acknowledging your weaknesses is a step toward self-
awareness. People who are self-aware are much more
enjoyable to be with. They likely have a much better
chance of achieving success too. If you want to be able to
sell your story, you need the whole story.”
Kim Giangrande,
Take Your Personal SWOT Analysis: Know Yourself to Sell
Yourself

35. John 8:32—“Then you will know the truth and the
truth will set you free”
• Spotting your own weaknesses is one of the most difficult
things to do. You have to be honest with yourself. No one is
perfect.
• To make your SWOT analysis worth the time you put into it, it
is always best to be realistic.
• Say the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. A
SWOT analysis is probably the only opportunity you have to
say the truth and still win your case (or stay out of jail).
Accept your weaknesses. Plead guilty.
• The truth will set you free.

36. Weaknesses: 8 questions you must ask yourself
and answer.
1. What do you struggle with? Are their tasks that you
don’t perform well or areas you receive criticism on?
2. What do you struggle with? When do you struggle with
them and why?
3. Do you lack experience, credentials or skills? What are
they?
4. What are those things you lack?
5. What are those things your competitors will confidently
identify as your weaknesses if they were to analyze you?

37. Quick Tip?
“Whenever I am analyzing my weaknesses,
what I do is be my own opponent. I cross-
examine my strengths to see if they are
actually strengths or weaknesses that just
look good.”
Senator Iyere Ihenyen,
How to become a 21st-century lawyer in
a new legal economy

38. Opportunities, the exciting part
• Opportunities are everywhere. If you don't see any
(yet), it is probably because you have not positioned
yourself in the right place.
• Opportunities have always been a matter of
perspective. What shapes your perspective is your
mindset. And your mindset is the function of your
mind's eye—the power of your imagination.
• It is from the power of human imagination that
innovation, development, and advancement are born.

39. How to expand career opportunities
1. Networking: Where can you meet people that can help
you advance your legal career?
2. Learning & Development: Do you invest in your
professional development even if you have to pay for
classes and certifications yourself? Are you taking your
future in your own hands and figuring out how to get
the professional and skills qualifications you need?
3. Volunteering: What volunteer work are have you taken
up or do you plan to take up to acquire new skills and
get experience at your level?

40. 5. New or Emerging Areas of Law: Are there new or
emerging areas of law that is yet to be fully explored
by other lawyers in the industry?
6. Legislations and Regulations: Do you know of any
new Act, Laws, or Regulations that are likely to create
new opportunities for you?
7. New Professional and Soft Skills: Is there a new skill
that you need to learn to add value to yourself as a
to-be lawyer?
How to expand career opportunities …contd

41. 8. Social-media Networking: Are you using Facebook,
Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter to expand opportunities
available in your network?
How to expand career opportunities …contd

42. Quick Tip?
“Those strengths you have identified will put you in a
competitive advantage are often the most useful
when you need to take professional advantage of the
opportunities you have spotted in your legal
marketplace. Never project your weakness(es). And
shut your door against threats.”
Senator Iyere Ihenyen,
How to become a 21st-century lawyer in
a new legal economy

43. • Threats, like opportunities, are the external elements in
the SWOT matrix. So focus on external factors, not on
yourself. Observe keenly what is happening around
you.
• Threats are dangers and disasters everyone wants to
avoid, if they can.
• No one likes threats (especially lawyers!).
Threats...the challenging part

44. • New government regulations, legislative actions, and
technological innovations are 3 of the external factors
that often create threats (and new opportunities) in
any industry.
• Depending on how prepared you are, what appears
to be a great career threat to your legal career may
be a fantastic opportunity to another, and vice versa.
Never overlook changes in your environment, whether
legal, economic, political, social, or technological changes.

45. 1. Career Obstacles: What obstacles do you face
presently?
2. Government Regulations: Are there new professional
regulations and standards that may affect your
qualification to practice law or practice in any
particular law-related field like corporate practice,
entertainment law, medical law, securities, taxation,
etc?
Threats: 10 questions you must ask yourself

46. 3. Poor Funding: Do you have funding challenges for
your legal education and continuing legal education
(CLE)?
4. Weak Academic Performances: Are your academic
results taking you where you want to be after your LLB
and law-school program?
5. Disruptive Technologies: Are there any new
technologies changing the way lawyers provide legal
services in today’s legal marketplace that might affect
your career plans?
Threats: 10 questions you must ask yourself

47. 6. Competition: What are you up against? What do the
people competing with you have that you don’t?
7. Poor Communication Skills: Do you have excellent
oral and written communication skills?
8. Poor CVs and Legal Job Applications: Is it ready? Will
it work for you? Does it stand out and truly define who
you are and what you have done? Does it highlight
your achievements and show your strengths? Does it
align with the job?
Threats: 8 questions you must ask yourself

48. Beyond the “I” Shaped Lawyer, Become a “T”
Shaped Lawyer
“Twenty-first-century lawyers must still be legal experts but
also have enough knowledge in different areas to identify
issues, understand concepts, contribute to teams and
connect ideas across disciplines.
“Twentieth-century lawyers prided themselves on, and
were valued for, their deep legal expertise. In the
technology-driven 21st century, clients demand more—
and the T-shaped lawyer is better equipped to provide it.”-
R. Amani Smathers, ‘The 21st-Century T-Shaped Lawyer’

49. An illustration of a T-shaped 21st-Century
Lawyer
Image Source: Armani Smather’s ‘The 21st-Century T-Shaped Lawyer’, published in a recent American Bar
Association journal.

50. Reevaluate your skills set—Deepen your
knowledge of law. Then acquire relevant skills
outside legal discipline.
In Smathers’ words:
“Twentieth-century lawyers were “I-shaped”—they had deep
legal knowledge and skills—but 21st-century lawyers must be
“T-shaped.” A T-shaped lawyer still has deep legal expertise
but also has the ability to collaborate across many disciplines,
such as technology, business, analytics and data security.
Changes in the legal market, lawyer ethics and new jobs for
lawyers demonstrate the need and demand for T-shaped
lawyers in this century.”

51. Today’s Legal Marketplace needs more than
what a conventional lawyer can offer.
“Legal needs and expectations today have gone
beyond the conventional legal issues. Legal solutions
now require an interdisciplinary approach. Legal
solutions now need to be dynamic, if they are to be
relevant. This is why the 21st-century lawyer must
become a T-shaped lawyer, with an horizontal breath of
knowledge in relevant fields outside the law, not just a
vertical depth of legal expertise.”
Senator Iyere Ihenyen,
How to become a 21st-century lawyer in a new legal economy

52. To be learned in substance (and not just in form),
become a T-shaped lawyer.
“Are you learned in substance and not just in form? Learning
does not end with being called to the Bar. Learning is a
continuous process. I think that of all professions, lawyers
should have members who are learning the most. Being
learned should mean to us that we are knowledgeable
enough to appreciate that we know little or nothing and that
to know, we must keep learning. Learning is what makes us
learned. To be learned is a responsibility, not a privilege. It is
a badge of lifetime studentship, not a badge of arrogance.”

53. Why do you need to be a T-shaped lawyer?
T-shaped lawyers have the following valuable
characteristics and skills set:
• Ability to connect concepts and principles
• Adaptation to new ideas
• Analytical thinking
• Creativity
• Eclectic
• Interdisciplinary
• Multidisciplinary

54. So what are the skills you need to acquire
to become a T-shaped lawyer?
• Business: Lawyers need to understand their clients’ businesses
and language of business.
• Communication: Language is a lawyer’s tool of trade.
• Finance: a T-shaped lawyer needs to acquire financial skills that
will help them offer real value to their clients.
• Information Technology (IT): Clients now demand their lawyers to
have IT skills and make their legal services IT-friendly.
• Marketing: Today’s legal marketplace is highly competitive. You
need to learn professional legal-marketing skills to help you
stand out.

55. Remember the David-and-Goliath story
https://blogs-images.forbes.com/steveolenski/files/2014/07/david-versus-goliath.jpg
Preparation. Precision. Focus. Faith

56. I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7

57. Thank you!
Senator Iyere Ihenyen
Lead Partner
Infusion Lawyers
senator@infusionlawyers.com.ng
www.infusionlawyers.com.ng
+2348098764066