Mrs. Funmi Falana (SAN) is a popular female Lawyer in Nigeria. She is in fact one of Nigeria’s leading female Lawyers who has excelled in her chosen profession. She has paid her dues. She has been in active practice for decades. And she has carved a niche for herself in her defence of Women’s right across the country.
Funmi, is the pretty wife of Human rights activist and Lawyer, Femi Falana. Both share a lot in common. They are legal practitioners. They co-run Falana & Falana Chambers in Ikeja GRA, Lagos. Both are also radically inclined in their world view. That Femi Falana is very uncompromising when it comes to issues of Injustice, Abuse of Human Rights & Rule of Law is well known, and well documented. It is the same thing with his wife who has taken up the defence of Women’s rights and handled very many cases in defence of Women in many organisations, both in government agencies and in the private sectors.
Both at home and in the office, what they talk about mostly is Law. It is either Femi Falana wakes up and bounces an idea off his wife about a legal issue or Funmi also broaches an issue with her husband about Law or Human Rights Violations.
And wait of this! Both Femi & Funmi Falana have learnt over the years to work together in the same offices, side by side. Their offices are next door to each other.
Infact, there is a door that links the 2 offices. Funmi says she enjoys working in the same office as her husband. “He is my best friend and so working with your best friend makes it all the more interesting”, she says.
Their children are also Lawyers. Although, one of them Falz, studied Law and started off by wokrking at Falana & Falana Chambers, after practicing for a while he took up Music full time.
But his sister has stayed on. She has just completed her Masters degree in Entertainment Law.
The big news is that Funmi Falana has just taken the Silk. She was recently made a Senior Advocate of Nigeria along with the last set of S.A.N’s. She is happy about the honour.
She is very excited. Her husband is happy also about his wife’s achievement.
Many people don’t know much about her. This is because she is not the noisy type. She doesn’t make noise about her giant strides in the profession. She just likes being left alone to continue her advocacy for Women’s rights.
She likes legal practice. She likes going to court. She likes the excitement that comes with going to court to argue her cases. She loves tough cases. Just like her husband, she likes cases that engages her.
Many also don’t know she didn’t start out as a Lawyer. She studied Physics. But she had to go back to read Law because she realised that it will help her passion for defending women’s rights.
She has been in practice for many years now. She enjoys what she does.
“I often tell people that the good side of legal practice is Advocacy”, she told City People recently. “Unfortunately many women do not want to go into Advocacy and Litigation. That is why they they end up on the Bench.”
“That is why we don’t have too marry women who are senior advocates today. I enjoy Litigation. I enjoy going to Court. I enjoy Advocacy. For me, that is the beauty of legal practice”.
She said she decided to go into the Law profession because of her interest and love for the advocacy of the rights of women. She felt becoming a Lawyer will help her achieve a lot more. She sincerely believes that the instrumentality of the law will be a better avenue for her to reach out to many people.
So she decided to go and read Law.
Many also don’t know that she started off as a Teacher. She also taught Law at the University of Lagos for a few years, before she went into full legal practice.
Lets tell you more. Lets tell you about her impressive rise to the top.
Mrs. Funmi Falana was born 60 years ago. She is a native of Akure in Ondo State.
She attended St. Louis Grammar School, Akure, Ondo State College of Education, Ikere Ekiti, University of Benin, Edo State, University of Lagos, Lagos and the Nigerian Law School. She was a Law lecturer at the University of Lagos before she left for full time legal practice with her husband at Falana & Falana’s Chambers, Lagos. The Chambers has branches in Lagos, Abuja and Ekiti. She holds the following qualifications: NCE, B.sc, LL.B, (Hons), B.L, LL.M, B.TH, FCI Arb. and Notary Public.
She is the Director of Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA), a non-governmental organization that defends the rights of Women and children, rehabilitates victims of domestic violence and empowers women in Nigeria.
WELA operates vocational training (Fashion Designing, Make Up and Auto Gele, Hair Dressing, Computer Classes, Catering Classes, Shoe making amidst others). WELA also gives scholarships to students in universities across Nigeria.
She has spear headed many campaigns in the area of developing the laws on Women’s rights through judicial activism. She has led campaigns against discriminatory laws against Women and these have led to reformation of some of these laws. An example of this, is the Regulation 124 of the Police Regulation (LFN) that provides that female police officers shall take a written permission of her commander before getting married, same is not required of a male police officer. This was challenged in the court and the regulation was struck down for being discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Mrs. Funmi Falana’s work is not limited to just affecting legislation in favour
of women as regards rights and equality, it extends to serious issues like the decongestion of Nigerian prisons. This is demonstrated by the regular visits to the Kirikiri maximum prisons amongst others. Over the years, several visits have been made to this establishment and several cases taken up. She has taken steps toward the reform of the laws on imprisonment in order to stop the courts from committing pregnant women to prison. This would in turn put an end to the unsightly incidents of seeing children grow up in the prison environment.
As part of her efforts in fighting against domestic violence, Mrs. Falana worked in conjunction with the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs & Poverty Alleviation on the “Law to Provide Protection Against Domestic Violence and for Connected Purposes”. She edited the Law into a simplified English Language with diagrams. She has also translated the Law into Yoruba Language for the common citizens of Lagos State.
She has represented many victims of human rights violation in Nigeria. She was a member of the Osun State Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2011. She is a Senior Minister in Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria.
She has bagged many awards in the past which includes; (a) International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA); (b) The British Society of Commerce (England), Nigerian Chapter; (c) Freelance Independence Broadcaster
Association of Nigeria (FIBAN); (d) Justice Research Institute; (e) The Council of Ekiti Youths “Excellent Women Award”; (f) Law Students Society, Olabisi Onabanjo University, (g) Achievement Award by Federal University of Technology (i) Achievement Award by Ogun State University Law Students Union, Nigerian Bar Association award and (j) Northern Women Youth Council of Nigeria (NWYCN) etc.
She is a member of Nigerian Bar Association, member Board of Trustees, African Women Lawyers Association, Member Pan African Lawyers Union, Member West African Bar Association, Member International Bar Association, Member American Bar Association, Fellow of International Institute of Arbitrators, Chairperson Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch.
Her hobbies are reading, singing and travelling.
–Seye Kehinde
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