Writing about my Nigerian Law School (NLS) experience turned out to be harder than I thought. The first time I put pen to paper, I churned out about 2k words, with about half being pointless rants. The writing process involved unearthing repressed emotions and I should have given up tbh but we dnor use to give up laidar in my hometown. The thing is, there’s so much to talk about such that one may end up saying a lot, while not saying much. Let’s see how it goes sha.
What’s the fuss about NLS?
Very few persons are enthusiastic about their experiences at the law school, including those that somehow manage to beat the system. The few that speak say stuff like ‘nothing prepares you for NLS’, ‘NLS will humble you’ or such other vague statements that scare the shit out of you. Before I got into NLS, I didn’t get what the fuss was all about and at some point, I felt people were exaggerating. In retrospect, I apologize for such uninformed line of thought.
Now that I know better, I know for a fact that nothing prepares you for NLS. Nothing does.
That Property Law Exam
After the Multiple Choice Questions exam on Saturday, Property Law ushered me into that demonic marathon exam week. In that exam hall, I was overwhelmed by a strange anxiety. Typical Diran keeps his cool during exams but for some reason, when I saw the question paper, I lost it. ‘This is the Bar Finals, this is your only shot at this.’ It did not help that I could attempt all the questions, and none of them looked particularly difficult. Thoughts swirling in my mind were: ‘since these questions are not that difficult, how do these people still manage to hoard First Class? What metric do they use?’ It also did not help that I kept remembering the thousand and one pieces of advice addressed to ‘Dear NLS Student’, and my mind was struggling with which of these principles to apply to give me my desired grade.
What did I want from the law school?
To be honest, I did not just want a first class. I wanted to smash law school. For one, I believe I did not academically max out in the university. Second, I got to dislike the NLS system so bad that I wanted to beat it so I wouldn’t sound like a wounded lion while ranting about the system. Oh well, look at me now…
At the beginning of my NLS journey, I did an honest self-assessment and I reached the conclusion that aspiring towards a first class was within my capacity. That said, I was equally aware of the fact that persons greater than I am have missed the red scroll. Since I am not immune to unmet ambitions, I knew missing a first class was within my range of possibilities. However, it was a possibility I did not want. Alas, it was what I got.
What does NLS want?
‘Nobody knows Diran; nobody knows.’
Those were the words of Nike, my friend who gave her all at law school. The rationale behind her statement is that law school is shrouded in mystery. You cannot precisely say that this is what works to get a red scroll because it seems they keep shifting the goalpost each year. Even when you speak to those that attained the much coveted grade, they say different things that make you realize ‘we just de roll dice, na God de give red scroll.’
I read at NLS, but relative to how intensely Nike read, it’s like I went to sell puff puff at law school. CAMA (the Companies and Allied Matters Act, the primary legislation on corporate law in Nigeria) has over 600 sections, and while we the masses struggled to know the sections, Nike internalized sub-sections and provisos to the sub-sections. We the masses hustled to know 1 or 2 cases at most for a principle (where such additional case chooses to cooperate), while Nike learned extra bougie cases beyond the one for the proles. For civil litigation, you ought to learn the relevant Order alongside the relevant Rule for one principle. So it’s like you are learning two sections for one point. Yet, when you speak with Nike, you’d hear Order 43 Rule 5 (4).
So you can imagine how disappointed she was not to hit the target she’d set for herself, after doing her best. In her words on her status the day after results were released, ‘the ball didn’t enter the basket I aimed for, and it feels awful.’ She told me: ‘Diran, is law school saying my best is not deserving of a first class?’ It did not help that she was roommates with Bukola double barrel, and to be honest, I saw both of them at law school and there was no considerable gap in preparedness.
In the words of another star girl friend of mine whose ball didn’t enter the basket she aimed for, Precious Akinkuolie, ‘my biggest lesson from law school is that you can want something so bad, work your ass off and pray and still not get it.’ Life523 couldn’t get more serious. Lol.
The gift of men
Omo, people came through at law school. I lost count of the random calls, texts, cash gifts, check-ins etal., I got from different people before and during Bar Finals. It was overwhelming. My class page nko? That one was a 24-hour help desk on NLS related matters.
If I do roll call that meins we wee sleep here but someone I must mention is Yemi Ayeku. If there is one man whom I owe for the rest of my life, it is Adeyemi Ayeku. Few weeks after we were sent home, Yemi DMs me and seeks whether I’m interested in joining a page tagged ‘Red Scrollers’ where he wants to prepare persons for NLS. He shares how he sympathizes with the peculiarities of our set, and out of the need to be more productive, he comes up with an idea to keep us on our toes at home.
So what does Yemi do? He tells us to draft weekly study schedules which we share with him, and he uses that schedule to draft customized weekly tests for each of us. Take note that we were about 10 in number. When I saw how detailed the weekly tests were, I had to ask him how long he used and he said, at the beginning, it took him about 10 hours. That was more than my total weekly study time at a point! This man did all this, while being employed by a law firm! Yemi’s gesture towards us was one of the reasons I craved a first class. Because I found it very captivating that someone could believe in others so much so that he would invest that much of his personal time, to see them succeed.
Denouement…
I could go on and on ranting about how NLS aired us for months; how analog they are in a digital world that they don’t even allow wrist watches in exam; the struggles we had trying to juggle and reconcile what is in the handbooks with what is in the class slides alongside what you hear in the videos, what your lecturers say in class, what you see in Cundy and so on and so forth. Sugbon this would end up being an unreadable treatise and that is self-defeating.
According to Nike supra, the only positive takeaway from NLS is that you have so many tabs in your head open at the same time, and this mirrors how in the real world, everything happens at the same time and you have to find a way to find your balance. I did not in the NLS, I pray I do in life.
I had moments of mental breakdown but somehow they did not degenerate into tears. I remember at some point in the marathon exam week, I blurted out in frustration: ‘if all I have been studying for the past 12 months cannot get me a First Class, I was never meant to get it.’ I’m sure Lekan will be proud reading this last line. Lol.
Curtains close
I’m sure the structure and writing of this piece is not quite coherent, just like my NLS journey. Ultimately, I am genuinely grateful to God (like my beloved middle name Sakirudeen denotes). I recall taking a walk round campus at around 1am on the Friday that Bar Finals ended. With ears plugged, I was probably listening to Lawrence Oyor right on the back of Wizkid’s Blessed. And at that moment, all I felt, was gratitude.
Loro kan, to the dismay of 100L Diran, I cannot be the next Reginald Aziza. NLS made sure of that. But I am the only Adediran Adesokan, and I plan to do a hell of a job to make that name stand for something good. So help me God.
Endnote
Dear Class Corona,
If NLS did not break you, I’m not sure what will.
Yours sakirudeenly,
‘Diran
