Amid the controversy and legal dispute surrounding the introduction of the Blue Silks as an alternative to the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, for lawyers in Nigeria, the Nigerian Law Society, NLS, and the Body of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, BOSCON, have declared that they have autonomy to confer the rank.
DAILY POST reports that the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, had introduced the Blue Silks rank as an alternative to the SAN title conferred on lawyers adjudged to have merited the honour.
But the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, rejected the Blue Silks rank, describing it as illegal. In the same vein, the NBA’s Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, which is responsible for conferring the SAN title, warned that lawyers parading the Blue Silks rank risk being sanctioned for professional misconduct.
Following the threat, ALDRAP, approached an Abuja Federal High Court to stop the NBA and others from interfering in matters concerning the Blue Silks rank. But the court, presided by Justice James Omotosho, ruled in favour of the NBA and other respondents, and went ahead to make an order of perpetual injunction restraining the applicants ALDRAP from continuing to confer the Blue Silks rank.
With ALDRAP approaching the Court of Appeal to challenge the Abuja Federal High Court judgment, the Nigerian Law Society, NLS, and the Body of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, BOSCON, in May 2026 announced that they would henceforth take over the conferment of the Blue Silks rank on interested and deserving
