I remember quite vividly when i wore my gown to the call to bar center and i remember also the moderator say “you may nw put on your wig”. The pride that rushed through me was unfathomeable, i was so ecstatic. In my mind i was like “this is it”,” my beginning of something great”. Then the first month came and i had no briefs and just like that 8 months went by without me even recovering the money i used to buy my wig and gown. There were times where i questioned if i even chose the right profession. Fast forward to 2024 i met a client that gave me a glimmer of hope.
At the time, I was still trying to find my feet in legal practice. Clients were so hard to come by, i had to create a card and hand it out to them and to be honest i probably didn’t look the most presentable at that time but i had grit and a fire in me. Some days, I would sit in my small rented office staring at my files, hoping that the telephone would ring and some other days, I would receive calls from people who wanted free legal advice and professional services without paying a kobo. I was beginning to understand that being called a lawyer and actually making money as one were two entirely different things.
Then, one afternoon, a woman reached out to me. She sounded desperate and emotionally exhausted, she told me that she was tired of her marriage and according to her, her husband had been physically abusing her almost every day in their matrimonial home. She sent me pictures of her swollen face and bruises across her body. Looking at those pictures, I genuinely felt sorry for her. It was difficult to imagine what she had been going through behind closed doors. When i asked her how she got my contact she said that the pastor where i went to church referred her to me, not that i actually cared to be honest.
She wanted a divorce and she wanted it urgently, so right there and then we discussed the matter, agreed on my professional fees and she made an initial deposit of 20% of the amount. Ordinarily, I might have insisted on completing the payment before taking further steps but compassion got the better of me. I told myself that this was not the time to be overly concerned about money, i didn’t want to look like some hungry lawyer that was desperate for money. A woman was allegedly being beaten in her own home and I felt I needed to help her get out of that situation as quickly as possible.
I immediately prepared and filed the divorce petition and subsequently when the matter came up in court, she testified as the Petitioner. I still remember how emotional she became while giving her evidence. She cried profusely, narrated the alleged abuse and pleaded with the court to dissolve the marriage so she could finally have peace and save her life. I was quite impressed with how she gave her testimony, she was a star witness.
After her testimony, we closed our case and the matter was adjourned for the Respondent to open his defence. As far as I was concerned, things were progressing well. I was already imagining the day I would receive the balance of my professional fees. For a young lawyer who had been struggling to attract clients, this was not just another brief, it was a welcome financial breakthrough.
Then came one fateful evening, it had rained heavily throughout the day. I was relaxing after a rather exhausting day when my WhatsApp rang. It was my client calling through a video call. I picked up, expecting perhaps an update about the case or some information concerning the next court date.
What I saw nearly made me drop my phone, there she was, lying comfortably on a bed beside the very man whose marriage we had gone to court to dissolve. Judging by their relaxed appearance and the atmosphere, they had clearly reconciled and it seemed they had just concluded a rather enthusiastic celebration of their reunion(If you know what i mean!).
I stared at the screen and i could not believe it, my heart sunk and i was like “was this the same woman who had cried in court?”
Before I could properly recover from the shock, she delivered the final nail in the coffin and said "D Law, I want you to file a Notice of Discontinuance. We have settled it." I wanted to ask several questions but the one that rang most in my head was “what happened to the balance of my professional fees?”
I tried to remind her that there was still an outstanding balance to be paid. Unfortunately, that was apparently the last legal conversation we would ever have. She ended the call and blocked me everywhere. Just like that, my anticipated financial breakthrough disappeared. I had gone from expecting my first substantial professional fee to wondering whether I had just worked for free.
I won't pretend that I was not annoyed at the time as this happened 2 years ago and whenever I remember that incident, I laugh but it was definitely not funny at the time. I had almost tasted my first big professional payday only for it to slip through my fingers. Anyways I am still practising and even though i am in a better place financially, i am still waiting for that big brief. As they say, better luck next time.
