Nonye Agomuo is the co-founder and acting managing director of NaijaBarrister and a pioneer cum entrepreneur with interdisciplinary experience and a passion for helping people resolve their legal issues.
The young entrepreneur belongs to a class of entrepreneurs who are on a mission to do big and innovative things while addressing societal problems and this prompted him to establish NaijaBarrister along with his co-founder.
NaijaBarrister is a startup that provides a platform for lawyers and non-lawyers to connect and resolve legal issues.
Nonye says the name NaijaBarrister was chosen out of his desire and that of his co-founder to have a name that can easily resonate with everyone both within and outside the legal profession.
“We wanted to create a platform for Nigerians across all works of life, hence the fusion of Naija and Barrister,” he says.
“Naijabarrister is committed to providing easy access to Nigerian laws, lawyers, legal resources, and advice to individuals and businesses,” he notes.
Since starting in 2022 the business has grown steadily and has continued to see growth in its client base.
“We have had lots of goodwill messages both offline and online regarding the brand and its services,” he says.
According to him, at inception, lawyers were critical of whether the brand violated the rules of professional conduct regarding advertising. He notes that the issue regarding the critical query was duly addressed.
“Naijabarrister is gaining huge acceptance from the public and Lawyers alike, this can be witnessed from the many engagements both on our “Ask a Lawyer” website page and our social media platforms,” he states. “Also, this can be seen in the numbers of registered Lawyers on the website.”
The business plans to offer training services in the future and currently working to restore confidence and hope in the Nigerian legal system by offering the public an opportunity to connect and interact with lawyers across the country.
Speaking on how technology is transforming the law profession, he says the advent of tech has indeed made the job of legal practitioners seamless and more effective.
“Legal Practitioners can easily transact and conclude their businesses with clients without physically meeting with them.”
“I have some clients outside Nigeria whom I have never seen, yet I manage their legal briefs here in Nigeria as a result of technology.”
He adds that tech has made research less cumbersome for legal practitioners as legal resources or material can be accessed online without having to break a sweat.
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“Virtual meetings and virtual proceedings in some courts have reduced delays in judgment delivery and enhanced business efficiency.”
Speaking on the prospect of the law profession in the country, he says the legal profession is quite challenging for both lawyers and non-lawyers.
According to him, the profession is tedious and inefficient for lawyers and the legal process is expensive, non-responsive, and unreliable for non-lawyers.
“To encourage people to get into the profession, it must be rewarding. The court system must be efficient and reliable,” he says.
“Political office holders must comply with court orders, and people should have confidence that they can obtain justice in a court of law within a reasonable time frame,” he adds.
