How often have you heard lawyers saying that they are the most learned among all professionals? Or that theirs is the only learned profession on earth? And also for how long their profession has been in existence in this world? Some will even tell you that the law profession is older than the world itself, and they will give an account of some mythic and unsubstantiated history which tend to support their claim. If you have ever heard of lawyers boasting about being the most learned and also their profession being the oldest and most honourable, have you then ever cared to ask why do they believe so? As a lawyer, I know some of the reasons advanced by lawyers in defence to their claims. You often hear them saying that they are the only professionals who poke their noses in all those professions when the need arises and not just that but to even try to beat them in their own professions. How many times have you seen a very qualified medical doctor or other professional been confused in a court of law when they come to give an expert opinion in their particular field of expertise? A lawyer who does not necessary match the experience of the expert (year wise) will try to confuse the expert in order to lure them make a contradictory statement which will consequently result in the court not admitting their testimony into evidence.
When we were at the university and even at Law school, we were told that we are the best of man kind and as such there are some particular ways that we are expected to behave. To make this look so important, Rules of Professional Conduct were made for the lawyers to observe to the fullest. These and many more things you won't hear from me have made the lawyers become so pompous, so big headed, and so full of themselves that they feel every other person or professional is second to them.
The question now is: are lawyers right to believe so? Shouldn't they be more humble to at least admit that there are other professionals and professions that are more important? Yesterday, the 26th day of March 2011, I wrote an aptitude test for employment in one of those Federal Government Corporations. And as we all know, there is no way one can write an aptitude test without having has to answer questions on mathematics. I am a lawyer and I don't have anything to do with maths, in fact I hate maths so much so that I opted to study law and become a lawyer and bids bye bye to mathematics. Un known to me we will one day cross roads again, and that day was yesterday. When I was preparing for the exams there was need for me to know at least some basic things in maths. Having at the back of my mind the belief that I am learned, I decided to study it on my own. However it didn't take me long before I realised I was just wasting my time as there was no way I could do it on my own. So I decided that I really needed help. I sought the help of my friend who is a maths teacher. I went for the lesson on those basics and simplest of mathematics, things like Ratio, Rate, Proportion, percentage and etc. You can of course expect me to have an idea on those things having at least gone to a secondary school. I had to wonder when my maths teacher made some tricks to solve one ratio problem what exactly did I do in secondary school that I didn't learn those things? I was so confused that my teacher friend had to mock me by saying (bakace kai lauya bane, saboda haka kasan komai ba?) Meaning: haven't you said that you are a lawyer and you know everything? We laughed and I said abeg make we forget that one for now.
Well, to cut the story short, I actually learned those things and wrote the test. And this is exactly why lawyers are different. As it is now, I am more learned in mathematics. Yeah, I know that you will say "oh God, they have done it again"! But that is the truth. I saw my teacher friend later in the day after the test and said to him, when I was having lesson on maths you mocked me that I should know everything, well now I am happy to inform you that I am now more learned in maths than I was before. And he said: "LEARNED YOU ARE INDEED!"
Ps: the blogger could not post anything on last Sunday, this is because as I stated in this article I was preparing for that aptitude test and I was seriously making efforts to become learned in mathematics which I have become now.
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