Templars have again clinched the coveted “Law Firm of the Year” award at the Law Digest Africa Awards which held with an elegant dinner at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island on Friday, 24th November 2017. This comes shortly after winning the same award at the Nigerian Legal Awards, 2017.
Both awards are aimed at recognizing and honoring excellence in the African and Nigeria legal services market, by recognizing the contributions of individual lawyers, law firms and in-house teams, large and small equally. The awards are based on the opinions of peers and the in-depth research conducted.
The shortlist for this year’s Law Digest Africa awards included candidates from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique. Also, the Judges for this year were selected legal professionals across Africa and the International community which include: Mickael Laurans, Head of International – Law Society of England and Wales, Noor Kapdi, Managing Partner, Dentons South Africa, Pieter Steyn, Director – Werksman & Chairman – LEX AFRICA, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, CON – Partner, Bayo Ojo & Co and a host of other reputed legal minds.
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Commenting on this year’s event, the Executive Editor of Law Digest, Seyi Clement stated, “This year had over 175 entries from more than 15 countries across Africa and Europe. The award was sponsored by Stephenson Harwood and had about 15 categories to reward excellence including a lifetime achievement award which went to Chief Bayo Ojo SAN CON FClArb for his overwhelming contribution to the legal space over the years.
Other categories with recipients were Female Managing Partner 2017 – Elizabeth Idigbe of Punuka Chamber (Nigeria), Africa Strategic Partner 2017 – Stephenson Harwood LLP (UK), General Counsel of the Year 2017 – Justina Lewa of Sterling bank plc, Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team 2017 – The New Practice (Nigeria), Banking & Finance Team 2017 – Aluko & Oyebode (Nigeria), Capital Market Team 2017 – Bowmans (South Africa), In-House Team of the Year 2017 – Africa Finance Corp (Nigeria), Young Managing Partner of the Year 2017 (under 40) – Marian Awele – Marreen & Ass (Nigeria), M&A Team 2017 – Bowmans (South Africa) and the award for the IP and Technology Team 2017 was a tie between Bowmans (South Africa) and Aluko & Oyebode (Nigeria).
The star of the night was, however, Templars which scooped the awards for Power, Energy & Natural Resources Team 2017 (Third consecutive award), Property, Infrastructure & Construction Team 2017, Managing Partner of the Year 2017 (Twice in a row) – Oghogho Akpata, Managing Partner, Templars and the grand award, Law Firm of the Year 2017. The Templars team had clinched the grand award over other top law firms in Africa which were shortlisted. They were CGA – Couto, Graca & Associados (Mozambique), Banwo & Ighodalo (Nigeria), Kenna Partners (Nigeria), Kaplan & Stratton (Kenya), Aluko & Oyebode (Nigeria) and Bowman (South Africa) which was the recipient of the award in 2016.
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This achievement by Templars was particularly unprecedented as the firm had just received the same award from another institution (ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards) a few weeks back. No other law firm has achieved the same feat in the same year.
Commenting on this, Partner, Olumide Akpata, said “We are very delighted to be recognized in such an outstanding manner. We thank our clients for inspiring us to push the boundaries of success as we could not have achieved this without them”.
In closing, the Executive Editor thanked sponsors and participants for their continued support over the years. “We hope that together, we can continue to promote excellence in the practice of law in Africa,” he said.
