Nigerian legal market takes the spotlight at Law Digest Africa Awards

Nigerian law firms and lawyers are taking the lead in the African legal market. This was re-enforced at the recent Law Digest Africa Awards, 2015, where the nation’s top performers in the legal industry took the spotlight as leading lawyers across the continent.

Nigeria’s Aluko & Oyebode emerged Law Firm of the year, while Banwo & Ighodalo took the Awards for Capital Market Team of the Year and M&A Team of the Year. Others include, Templars (Nigeria) as Power & Natural Resources Team of the Year; Aluko & Oyebode (Nigeria) – as Litigation Team of the Year; G Elias & Co (Nigeria) – as Banking & Finance Team of the Year.

In the same vein, Dr. Dr. Adesegun Akinjuwon Akin-Olugbade of Africa Finance Corporation emerged as General Counsel of the Year.  While Oando’s in-house legal team got the In-house Legal Team of the Year (Oil & Gas); Zenith Bank plc – In-house Legal Team of the Year (Banking and Financial Services); Seplat (Nigeria) – In-House Legal Team of the Year (Power & Natural Resources), while Law Pavilion (Nigeria), got Support Service Provider of the Year award.

Other winning entries were: Managing Partner of the Year, which went to Bowman Gilfillan (South Africa); Young Managing Partner of the Year – Isabel Boaten of AB & David (Ghana); Female Managing Partner of the Year – Isabel Boaten of AB & David (Ghana); Property, Infrastructure & Construction Team of the Year – AB & David (Ghana), and South African Breweries (South Africa) – In-House Legal Team of the Year (Trade & Industry).

The Law Digest Africa Awards is a new concept aimed at recognising and honouring excellence in the African legal services market, by recognising the contributions of individual lawyers, law firms and in-house teams equally. According to the Editor of Law Digest and Sponsor of the award, Seyi Clement, the award represents a mark of quality, which is essential for firms to maintain a competitive edge in a highly competitive market, such as legal services.

He said: “The award is based on the opinions of over 5000 senior practitioners spread across Africa and the in-depth research that our team conducted.”

Nominees for the General Counsel category included – Towun Candide-Johnson of Total E&P Nigeria Limited; Angela Omo-Dare of Stanbic IBTC (Nigeria); Ngozi Okonkwo of Oando; Michael Otu of Zenith Bank; Andre Rosetto of Odebrecht (Ghana), and Paul Okocha of Corlay (Cameroon).