Areas Of Practice

 

 Commercial and Civil Litigation

The corporate and commercial legal services offered by the firm are enhanced and complemented by formidable resourceful litigation capability. The firm is positioned to handle commercial as well general civil disputes as its members have considerable experience in commercial litigation, especially in the area of trademark dispute, copyright and patent disputes, maritime, debt recovery, simple contracts, insurance, aviation, claims arising out of the operations of a company as well as disputes revolving around ownership of properties arising either from acquisition or by inheritance

The Litigation group of the firm also have extensive experience in respect of life and personal injury claims as well as claims arising from environmental pollution and transportation related damage.

 

Arbitration; Negotiation and Mediation

Bearing in mind the economic interests of our clients and the need for speedy resolution of commercial disputes, the firm is committed to the use of arbitration and mediation as an effective and alternative form of dispute resolution. The founding Partner of the firm is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) Nigerian Branch; the London Court of International Arbitration (Young International Arbitrators’ Group) as well as the world’s foremost arbitration body, the ICC international Court of Arbitration (Young Arbitrator’s Forum) and has acted as Counsel in several arbitration and mediation proceedings and as Mediator in a couple of labour related disputes.

 

Energy Resources and Environment

One of the major areas of practice of the firm is Energy Resources and environment. Members of the Energy Resources Group of the firm have acted as advisors to host countries (NOCs) and International Oil Companies (IOCs) in various cross-border energy projects. The group has extensive experience in energy project finance, international energy arbitration, infrastructure projects in upstream, midstream and downstream energy, negotiation for the restructuring of energy projects, Joint ventures for exploration and production, hydro and petrochemical projects, pipeline projects and LNG as well as Hydro gas power plant, refinery, EPC and Production Sharing Agreements..

 

Banking and Corporate Finance

The Banking and Corporate Finance Group of the firm has proven international banking and finance capability. The Group advises financial institutions in both general and transactional capacities. We render advice on syndicated and non syndicated financial transactions, these includes: secured and unsecured loans, liquidity facilities for structured finance transactions, debt conversion and global depository receipts, senior and subordinated credit facilities, commercial paper back-up facilities, as well as leverage buy-outs involving both public and private companies.

 

Aviation

The corporate commercial group of the firm is well positioned to render advice and support to clients in the aviation industry. These include matters such as aircraft leasing, acquisition and sale of aircrafts, registration and de-registration of aircrafts, defence in loss of baggage claims, defence in personal injury and life claims as well as matters related to aircraft insurance particularly Hub and pax insurance.

 

Maritime and Admiralty

The Maritime Law Group (“the Group”) of the firm is a dedicated team of lawyers trained in admiralty practice, using their specialist knowledge to the advantage of clients. The objective of the Group is to provide competitive and cost efficient solutions to the particular requirements of clients in the admiralty courts in Nigeria. At all times, the underlying aim is to protect the client’s interest and to solve problems arising. The Group also offer expertise in cargo and carriage claims as well as all aspects of international trade, insurance, pollution and marine collisions.

 

Corporate & Commercial

The firm is positioned to provide sound commercial advice on a widely variety of matters. These include advice on various contracts which relate to banking, insurance, shipping and admiralty, securities and all aspects of the protection and exploitation of intellectual property rights. Our clients would also benefit from expertise and extensive experience in a wide range of transactions and corporate finance work, including mergers, acquisitions, leverage buy outs, divestitures and restructuring of private companies and businesses, shareholder and joint venture arrangements, banking and financial services work, including equity offerings.

 

Intellectual Property

The firm has a sound and very effective Intellectual Property Group. The Group provides a varied range of services which includes the law and practice/ registration of copy right, Trade Marks, Patents and Industrial Designs.

This often overlaps unto the litigation group of the firm in intellectual property disputes which is one of the core practice areas of the firm particularly trademark litigation

 

Tax Advisory Services

The firm renders legal support to Nigerian and Foreign corporations on tax related issues. These include shallow and deep water tax concessions for Oil Mining Licencees under Nigerian Law as well as other tax benefits for operators in Nigeria’s energy sector, tax free periods, tax allowances, deductible expenses, tax incentives for gas utilisation, tax exemptions for mining of solid minerals as well as export processing zone allowances.

 

Election Petition and Criminal Prosecutions/Defences

The above is a new practice area of the firm which was incidentally created in order for the firm to have the opportunity of rendering Pro Bono services to indigent election candidates as well as indigent accused persons/ “awaiting trial detainees”

The litigation group of the firm in addition to its commercial ligation practice, have consequently gained experience in this regard via its involvement in a notable Election Petition matter in Lagos State both at the tribunal of first instance and the Appeal Tribunal (OBANIKORO v ADENIJI) as well as in a criminal defence of an elected public officer in Rivers State.

The head of the litigation group with a view to gaining cutting edge know how in the area of criminal prosecution/defences undertook a training in this regard at the International Nuremberg Principles Academy -Nurnberg Germany.