Why specialisation beats generalism in Nigerian legal practice

For most of a young lawyer's career, the pressure runs toward breadth. Take every brief, learn every area, say yes to everything — it feels like the safe way to build a practice.

The market disagrees. Clients with a real problem — a cross-border financing, a regulatory investigation, a contested estate — do not want the lawyer who knows a little about everything. They want the lawyer who has done this exact thing many times before.

What specialisation actually buys you:

• Pattern recognition a generalist never develops
• A referral network of other specialists, not competitors
• Pricing power — depth is worth paying for, breadth is a commodity

None of this means abandoning a broad legal education. It means choosing, deliberately, where your depth will live.