Beyond the Black Letter: Abdullah Abayomi Abdulazeez on Mentorship, Law School Realities, and Bridging Scholarship with Practice
"Having a first-class result is an achievement, but practice teaches you very quickly that the law as you study it in books is not always the same as the law as it operates in real life."
1. What would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Abdullah Abayomi Abdulazeez. I am a lawyer, researcher, editor, and writer. I was called to the Nigerian Bar on 10 July 2026. Beyond these professional descriptions, I am particularly interested in legal research, writing, advocacy, and the continuous process of learning and improving within the profession.
2. Why did you choose to study law, and have you decided on an area you'd like to specialize in?
Studying law was not something I had always planned to do. It was not a grand childhood ambition, as it is for many people. In my case, it was largely influenced by my father, although he is neither a lawyer nor involved in a related field. I remember returning from Arabic school, or madrasa, one day when he asked me what I wanted to study. I mumbled a couple of options, and he said, “Since you attend Arabic school and love it so much, how about you study Common and Islamic Law? At least, your madrasa/Arabic-school knowledge will be useful to you.” That was essentially how I decided to study law. I made that decision when I was about 13, in JS3, even though I knew absolutely nothing about law at the time.
As for specialization, most of the orientation we receive as new lawyers is that one should not specialize too early. I find that advice quite useful. You should explore different areas of the profession, test your strengths, discover what you enjoy, and then decide where you want to build your niche. That said, I have a strong passion for litigation. I have participated in moot and mock competitions, both nationally and internationally, since my 100 level. At the same time, I am interested in finance, including both conventional and Islamic finance. My intended point of balance is commercial litigation because it gives me the opportunity to work across litigation, finance, and corporate practice. It is an area that I believe can accommodate my interests while allowing me to develop as a well-rounded practitioner.
3. What did your days at Nigerian Law School actually look like?
My experience at the Nigerian Law School went through several phases because I kept experimenting with different routines and strategies to find what worked best for me. For the first couple of months, before our first extenship, I was almost always indoors. I would return from class, sleep for a while, wake up, eat, pray, and start reading. Eventually, I realized that the routine was not helping me get the best out of myself. I am not naturally a night person, so it did not make sense for me to sleep during a period when I was still mentally active and then force myself to read late at night. I eventually settled into a routine that worked much better for me.
For every class, I would wake up around 5:20 or 5:30 a.m. to pray. Depending on how tired I was, I might prepare for school immediately or sleep for another 30 minutes to an hour. Before leaving the hostel, however, I made sure I had gone through the pre-class activities. The activities had usually been assigned beforehand and worked on by our group members. They essentially comprise of the topic to be taught that day. We worked in subgroups, and I was a subgroup leader. So, in the morning, I would go through the pre-class activities and the answers prepared by the group. Of course, we were all students and new to the system, so the answers were not necessarily completely correct. But reading them gave me an idea of what we would be dealing with in class. That was essentially my first reading.
My second reading happened in class. I made a conscious effort to listen carefully, particularly during the correction of the pre-class activities. I also participated actively whenever the opportunity arose, including when the microphone went around the class. In Abuja campus, classes ended around 1:30 p.m. We would go to pray and usually be done by about 2 p.m. Sometimes I had eaten during the tea break around 11 a.m.; sometimes I had only taken a snack. If I was hungry after class, I would eat and then head to the library. One thing I discovered about myself was that when I was tired, a short rest helped me more than forcing myself to continue. So, in the library, I would sometimes take a brief nap, perhaps 10 to 20 minutes without necessarily setting an alarm. Then I would read until it was time to pray around 4 p.m. After praying, I would return to the library and continue until around 7 p.m.
The library on my campus closed around 8:30 or 8:40 p.m. After that, I would get something to eat, either by going out or ordering food, and then move to the seminar hall. It was another reading space, and I found it comfortable and conducive to studying. I would remain there until around 11:30 p.m. or midnight, depending on how tired I was. By the time I returned to the hostel, I usually could not do much else, so I would sleep. As examinations drew closer, however, I incorporated more past-question practice. After returning to the hostel, I would sometimes answer past questions before going to sleep. That routine, although demanding, was what eventually worked best for me.
My reading materials were strictly;
The note I find resonating the most, class slides, the black letters of the laws (soft copies of the actual laws like ACJA, ACJL, RPC, CAMA, POLICE ACT, COURT RULES, and the NLS Compendium). For note, even though I read Mayowa and even printed it out, I understood a material may not sufficiently explain all courses or topics so I there were topics I doubly read in other materials like Badmus, Onimisi, Kelvin and even on the internet and ChatGpt. I just always make sure to jot my external readings in the printed material so my readings are consolidated.
4. What would you say has been the biggest factor behind your academic success?
For me, the biggest factor has been mentorship.
I had seniors who were willing to hold my hand through the process. One significant example was the Trailblazers Group, where a number of our seniors took the time to teach us how to approach questions, what the Law School expected from us, and how to navigate the demands of the programme. That mentorship was a substantial part of my journey. I believe it significantly enhanced whatever academic success I have recorded so far. Sometimes, having someone who has already gone through a process explain the process to you can save you from making avoidable mistakes and help you see things from a clearer perspective.
5. How many hours did you typically study each day, and did this change as exams approached?
Even from my undergraduate days, I was never someone who could sit down and study for extremely long, uninterrupted hours. Law school, however, required much more. During the regular school period, I typically started studying around 2 p.m. and continued until about 11:30 p.m. That was roughly eight to nine hours in total, although it was not eight or nine hours of uninterrupted reading. There were breaks for prayer, meals, short periods of rest, and sometimes simply walking around.
As examinations approached, the routine changed. We had two externships during my time at Law School, and fortunately, we had completed the syllabus before the second externship. When we returned, there were still activities to attend to, but we also had more time to focus on revision. At that stage, I would leave the hostel around 9 a.m. and go to the seminar hall or library, and I might not return until 11 p.m. or midnight. I would still take breaks to pray, eat, rest, or occasionally walk around. But for most of the day, I was at my reading spot. Depending on the day, that could amount to about 10 to 12 hours of study-related time.
6. How did you decide what to prioritize when you couldn't do everything?
That is the reality of Law School: at some point, you simply cannot do everything. There is always so much to read and so much to do. What helped me was recognizing my strengths and weaknesses. I identified the courses I was comfortable with and those in which I was weaker. I then allocated more time to the courses I struggled with and less time to those I already understood well. At the same time, I made sure my revision remained all-rounded.
For example, I knew I was relatively strong in civil litigation, criminal litigation, and professional ethics. Corporate law and property law, on the other hand, gave me more difficulty, and at some point, I was getting very low scores in them. So, I deliberately dedicated more time to those courses. The key for me was not simply studying more; it was studying strategically. I had to understand where my weaknesses were and direct my limited time towards improving them.
7. What do you enjoy doing outside academics, and how do you make time for it?
To be honest, I am not sure I would describe myself as someone who particularly enjoys academics. I do it because it is something I have to do. There is not necessarily any special joy attached to it for me. And outside studying, I tried to spend time with my friends. We talked, gisted, and generally interacted. That gave me some balance.
I am also a researcher, so I continued working during Law School, although the amount of time I could devote to work was significantly reduced. I still had deliverables and responsibilities that I had to attend to. Whenever I became tired or bored, I also turned to YouTube. I watched Court Bar series from different years, and I found that surprisingly encouraging. I also watched Young VIP TV, which features interviews with first class scholars and provides reviews and tips on answering questions. And yes, I went to parties a couple of times. Law School was demanding, but I did not completely disappear from the world.
8. How did you balance academics with your social life, rest, work, or other commitments?
To be honest, I do not think there is a hard-and-fast rule for balancing everything. When you get to Law School, you have to be prepared to give it your all. There is a popular description of Law School as a “jealous mistress” because it demands so much of your attention. But you still have a life outside academics, so you have to find a way to give those other aspects of your life some time without allowing them to take over.
Socially, I went out a few times and attended parties at least four times during Law School. For rest, I was fortunate that I am not naturally a night person, so my nights were generally for sleeping, at least until examinations approached. I also continued working, mostly on weekends or on nights when I was too tired to read and assimilate anything. In those moments, rather than forcing myself to read unproductively, I would work instead. For other commitments, I simply tried to manage them around the central priority, which was Law School.
9. Do you have mentors or role models who have influenced your journey, and what impact have they had?
Yes, I have mentors and role models who have had a significant influence on my journey. The Trailblazers community, in particular, played a major role in my development. I would make special mention of Yusuf Olalere, Prosper Kanayo, Isiaka Azeez Ayinde, Ifechukwu Ewulum, Jimoh Aishat Omotolani, among many others whom I may not be able to mention individually. They were all substantial parts of my process in one way or another. Their guidance, encouragement, corrections, and willingness to share their experiences helped me navigate both academic and professional development.
Mentorship has taught me that you do not always have to figure everything out by yourself. Sometimes, the right people can shorten your learning curve considerably.
10. Did you ever encounter a course or topic that was particularly challenging? How did you push through?
Corporate law was probably my biggest stumbling block, largely because I found some aspects of it too abstract. I had challenges with other topics as well, but corporate law stood out. One thing I learned, however, was not to allow other people's perceptions of a topic to become my own reality. For example, people would sometimes say that certain areas of corporate law, such as Foreign Participation, were very difficult. When I eventually studied them, I did not find them difficult at all. So, I refused to create an additional psychological barrier for myself simply because other people had described something as hard.
What I did instead was read repeatedly, especially the areas where I felt uncertain, until I became confident that I understood them. For topics that genuinely gave me difficulty, I adopted a more structured approach as examinations approached. I classified the entire course outline into three categories: topics I knew very well, topics I knew fairly well, and topics I needed help with. For the topics I needed help with, I identified friends who understood them better and asked them to teach me. Sometimes I assigned one topic to one friend, and sometimes two topics. I would tell them, “I don't understand this topic; please explain it to me.” We would either get on a call or they would send me voice notes, which I would listen to repeatedly.
Ultimately, I think persistence matters. The more you read, engage with a topic, ask questions, and revisit it, the more it begins to make sense.
11. Was there ever a point where you doubted yourself or felt like giving up? What kept you going?
There was never a point when I genuinely felt like giving up because giving up was never an option for me. But there were certainly times when I doubted myself. There were times I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and even times when I shed tears. While I never gave up on first class, there were times I tried to make peace with the possibility of a 2:1.
When that happened, I allowed myself to rest. I would drop everything for a while. Sometimes I would eat, take a stroll, sleep, or watch something on YouTube. I would watch Court Bar processions and Young VIP TV, among other things. I also spoke to people. I never kept quiet about being tired. I found that talking to people was helpful because you often realize that you are not the only person going through what you are experiencing. There are other people in the same situation, and knowing that can give you the encouragement to keep moving. For me, the goal was never to pretend that I was never tired. It was to recognize when I was tired, take the necessary break, and then continue.
12. What is one lesson from university and Law School that you wish you had learned earlier?
I wish I had learned earlier to take my time and know myself.
You need to understand what works for you. If you need friends around you to study effectively, then find those people. If you are a solo reader, then study alone. Do not do things simply because other people are doing them.
The same applies to study materials, particularly in Law School, where there are so many materials available. If everyone is reading a particular material and you do not understand or resonate with it, find another one. There is almost always another option.
You do not have to do what everybody else is doing. Know what you need, know what you do not need, and build a system that works for you. That, for me, is one of the most important lessons I wish I had learned earlier.
13. What advice would you give to someone who feels like they are working hard but not seeing the results they want?
First, I would ask: how do you know you are not seeing results?
There were things we read in Law School that we did not immediately understand or remember perfectly. We were sometimes told that if you read something enough, even if you could not remember it at that moment, it would come back to you when you needed it in the examination. I found that there was some truth in that.
Sometimes, you enter an examination, see a question, and suddenly realize that you actually know the answer, even though you cannot remember exactly when or how you learned it.
But beyond that, I would advise anyone who feels they are working hard without seeing results to engage with past questions. Past questions are probably the closest test of whether your study strategy is actually working. Read them. Attempt them. Mark your answers. Identify where you are losing marks.
You should also examine your strategy honestly. The fact that you are working hard does not automatically mean that your method is effective. Your strategy may need to change. If you study in the morning, study at night, study alone, or study with people, the important thing is to identify what produces the best results for you. If something is not working, do not be afraid to try another approach.
14. What are you currently doing, and how have your education and experiences prepared you for it?
I currently work at a law firm.
My education and experiences have prepared me in several ways. Since I have participated in litigation-related activities from my 100 level, including moot and mock competitions, I developed a level of confidence in approaching legal problems and thinking through legal issues. At the same time, I approach questions and real-life situations with the understanding that I do not know everything and that I am always ready to learn.
Having a first-class result is an achievement, but practice teaches you very quickly that the law as you study it in books is not always the same as the law as it operates in real life. The black-letter law is one thing; the realities of practice are another. So, while I value my academic background and the first-class result I obtained, I am always ready to put that aside when necessary and embrace new realities. I want to learn from people who have already done the things I aspire to do, accept mistakes and corrections, and improve where necessary.
For me, the real preparation is therefore a combination of academic knowledge, exposure, confidence, humility, and a willingness to keep learning.
15. Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?
In the next ten years, I see myself combining scholarship and practice.
I aspire to become a law lecturer and a practitioner; a Doctor of Law, probably a Reader. I see myself as a renowned advocate, and an advocate-scholar contributing meaningfully to legal discourse both within Nigeria and globally.
Ultimately, I want my life/work to extend beyond personal achievement. I want to contribute to the development of legal scholarship, advocacy, and the profession, and to be part of conversations that shape the law and its practice around the world.
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