GOODWILL MESSAGE By Barth Aniche Okoye

It is with profound honour and genuine excitement that I extend my warm goodwill message to the Nigerian Bar Association, Port Harcourt Branch, on the occasion of its 2025 Law Week, themed “Cutting Edge Legal Practice: Catching Up with Innovations & Re-Inventions for Societal Impact.”

This theme is not just timely, it is transformational. We stand at the frontier of a rapidly evolving legal landscape where technology, innovation, and societal re-invention are rewriting the rules of engagement.

As legal practitioners, the challenge before us is clear: to evolve or to be left behind.

This Law Week offers us the rare opportunity to collectively interrogate the future of our profession, embrace new tools, and refine the skills required to remain relevant in a knowledge-driven world.

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For me, this conversation is deeply personal. Having served at the Eastern Bar Forum, I have witnessed firsthand the hunger for progress among our colleagues, a desire to practise law with precision, speed, creativity, and impact.

The Port Harcourt Branch has once again demonstrated leadership by curating a forward-looking programme that not only anticipates future realities but boldly invites us into them.

The legal profession can no longer afford the comfort of old models.

Today, artificial intelligence challenges our methods, digital systems reshape client expectations, and society demands faster, smarter, and more humane legal solutions.

Cutting-edge legal practice is not a slogan, it is the new minimum standard. And with reinvention must come courage: courage to rethink procedure, courage to embrace technology, courage to refine our ethics, and courage to expand our influence beyond the courtroom.

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I commend the Branch Chairman, the Law Week Planning Committee led by the indefatigable T.J. Krukrubo, SAN, and every colleague who has invested vision and energy into this landmark event.

You have set the stage for a week of serious reflection, robust engagement, and unparalleled learning.

As we gather, let us do so with open minds and a sense of responsibility to the future of the profession we love.

The conversations we begin here must not end here, they should ripple across the nation, influencing how we practise, how we teach, and how we lead.

May this Law Week ignite new ideas, strengthen professional bonds, and equip every participant to stand out as a lawyer of innovation, integrity, and societal impact.

I wish the Port Harcourt Branch a profoundly successful and memorable 2025 Law Week.

Barth Aniche Okoye

Immediate Past Publicity Secretary

NBA Eastern Bar Forum