Strachan Partners, a leading commercial law firm in Nigeria, and Lagos State University (LASU), have emerged the winners of 2019 edition of Lagos Court of Arbitration – Young Arbitrators Network (LCA-YAN) International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition, held last week.
After the fiercely contested hearings, Strachan Partners’ team of young lawyers emerged winners by beating their counterparts from Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL) to the second place in the Law Firm category, while Lagos State University (LASU) team beat their University of Lagos (UNILAG) counterparts to win the University category prize.
Four Law firms, Strachan Partners, Olisa Agbakoba Legal, Babalakin & Co and Banwo & Ighodalo had [qualified for the semi-final while Lagos State University, University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and University of Lagos participated in the semi-final for the universities category.
With this competition, the Lagos Court of Arbitration-Young Arbitrators Network (LCA-YAN) continues to show its commitment to deepening knowledge and interest of arbitration into young lawyers and university students across Nigeria through its annual moot competition.
The 2019 edition of the competition which is the third, held at the Lagos Court of Arbitration, and saw Efemefuna Iluezi-Ogbaudu emerge Best Advocate in the Law Firm category; Babajide Michael Olusegun, claimed the corresponding prize in the University category; Strachan Partners as best participating team in the Law Firm category and Lagos State University as best participating team in the University category.
The 2019 edition of the competition which is the third, held at the Lagos Court of Arbitration, and saw Efemefuna Iluezi-Ogbaudu emerge Best Advocate in the Law Firm category; Babajide Michael Olusegun, claimed the corresponding prize in the University category; Strachan Partners as best participating team in the Law Firm category and Lagos State University as best participating team in the University category.
Also, Olisa Agbakoba Legal won the prize for the best-written Memorial in the Law Firm category, while Obafemi Awolowo University clinched the award for best-written Memorial in the University category.
Speaking during the event, Mazeedah Hassan, event director with LCA-YAN, the organisers of this competition, said the reason for the competition is to get interest of arbitration into young lawyers and students in the university.
“We realised that there are few opportunities for students and young lawyers to see the intricacies of an actual arbitration because arbitration is a private hearing between parties. So, this competition is an opportunity for young lawyers to see how arbitration is and get them interested in it,” Hassan said.
She said the gift for those who emerge winners is price money, adding that the best memorial will get N250,000, best advocate, N250,000 and the winning team will get 1,000 dollars.
LCA-YAN executives, Oluwaseun Philip-Idiok and Ridwan Bello added that the competition, which is an initiative of young arbitration practitioners in conjunction with the Lagos Court of Arbitration, aims to expose young professionals to International Arbitration Practice, and provide them with a platform to exchange views on issues in international arbitration.
“The LCA-YAN aims to achieve this objective through: Mentorship for young practitioners under the supervision and guidance of expert Arbitrators; Fostering an international network of young Arbitrators for educational and practical collaboration; Providing access to continuous professional development and career opportunities, and Teaching and encouraging compliance with global best practices in Arbitration, amongst young practitioners”, Oluwaseun noted.
Attempting a critical assessment of the competition, Oluwaseun adds that the process and journey has been remarkable “because the competition is getting richer and has resulted to the University of Lagos representing the country at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration competition (Vis moot) in Vienna, Austria this year,” she said.
On his part, Ridwan added that, the “LCA YAN International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition has also inspired previous participants to do further research in the area of Arbitration, leading to several thesis in Novel issues in Arbitration in Nigeria.
“LCA-YAN is grateful to its sponsors for their continuous support towards the success of the Competition and is open to receiving sponsorships for future editions of the Competition”, Bello added.
“We have participation within Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and Egypt. For the first stage of the competition, which was written, we had about 20 universities and 26 law firms. He said panel of expert Arbitrators at the Lagos Court of Arbitration, carried out the assessment.
Benjamin Wehmann a lawyer practicing in Frankfort and one of the judges at the competition said the competition is to teach practical skills to young lawyers and students in the field of international commercial arbitration and international commercial law.
Wehmann said the Moot competition is essentially part of a larger initiative of the two world-wide competitions going on in Vienna and Hon Kong.
“In Vienna we have more than 300 teams from about 80 countries participating and in Hon Kong, there are more than 100 teams and probably 20 to 30 countries represented. The idea was to promote that format in Africa.
“One of the lawyers here saw the international competition and therefore mirrored what we were doing. I saw his initiative in LinkedIn and I reached out to him three years ago and that is how we connected because we were always looking to support people in promoting that format in their respective countries.
“This is an annual event. This is the third year in Nigeria. The international competition also happens every year and I think it is in its 22nd edition,” he explained.
Speaking on Nigeria’s young lawyers and students’ performances when compared with global standards, he said it is quite remarkable on how fast Nigerian lawyers adapt to different styles that they are confronted with.
“What you see in the international competition is every country in every region has different approaches to the law. So part of this international experience is that you get confronted with different styles of approaching dispute settlement and it was very interesting to see how students here who had less international exposure adapted so quickly.
“Last year, University of Lagos sent a team to Vienna and people in Vienna were very impressed with the level of competition they delivered,” he added.
On the panel of Arbitrators for the 2019 competition, were leading arbitration practitioners, including Prof. Konyinsola Ajayi, SAN, Funke Agbor, SAN, Godwin Omoaka, SAN, Babatunde Ogungbamila, Laura Alakija. Others were Tola Osobi, SAN, Folasade Alli and Mark Modi.
Speaking at the event, Funke Agbor, SAN, who said she was involved in the competition for the first time said she was proud of the performances from the participants.
The Senior Advocate said it was impressive listening to young people dissecting cases and trying to persuade the Arbitral Tribunal on the decision they should take.
She however encouraged the young arbitrators to always dwell more on the facts and then law to be able to put forward a good case.
This year, the competition which had two separate tracks for Law Firms and Universities, had kicked-off with the assessment of memorials submitted by 20 Universities and 26 Law Firms.
The event, which is gradually becoming an annual ritual in the legal community, is proudly supported by the Lagos Court of Arbitration as well as top Nigerian and International Law Firms, including AELEX, Olisa Agbakoba Legal, Stephenson Harwood Legal, M. A. Banire & Associates, White & Case, Solola & Akpana, Africa Legal Practice, Strachan Partners, Ibifubara Berenibara, and Adeniyi Akintola SAN & Co.
The event, which is gradually becoming an annual ritual in the legal community, is proudly supported by the Lagos Court of Arbitration as well as top Nigerian and International Law Firms, including AELEX, Olisa Agbakoba Legal, Stephenson Harwood Legal, M. A. Banire & Associates, White & Case, Solola & Akpana, Africa Legal Practice, Strachan Partners, Ibifubara Berenibara, and Adeniyi Akintola SAN & Co.
