Achieving Excellence in the Legal Profession in a Globalized World: Imperatives for Developing Economies

Abstract

That the world has become a global village is a cliché. Today, as far as communication and dissemination of information is concerned, distance is no longer a barrier. It is therefore imperative that the training of lawyers in developing economies prepare them to be relevant and function efficiently and effectively in a borderless world. The increasing impacts of information technology and the internet have demystified knowledge and skills in all professions leaving the lawyer of today a person of business and ethics. The key argument in this paper is that the appropriate response to this is not in how much more of Law and Practice are crammed into Schools’ curricula; rather it is in training law students to become practitioners whose services will be valued in the internationalized market of today. The key to excellence in a globalized world is for lawyers to be prepared with the relevant skills, knowledge, and technological sophistication needed for them to meet complex expectations of clients in terms of high ethical standards, personal conduct and efficiency, knowledge and skill in that order.
Keywords: Legal education, excellence, globalization, technology