Nigeria leads other African countries in final list of African law award

NIGERIAN lawyers and law firms led by Bayo Ojo (SAN), have topped the list of final nominees for this year’s edition of Law Digest Africa Awards leading their counterparts from other African countries.

The former Attorney General of the Federation and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) will lead the pack as he is billed to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award category for his numerous contributions to Law and Jurisprudence.

With entries from over 12 countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Mozambique, Angola, Tunisia Tanzania, Cameroon and the United Kingdom for the 14 keenly contested categories of awards, Nigerian firms have been shortlisted in all award categories open to African firms.

The Law Digest Africa Awards which is in its third year is designed to recognise excellence in the practice of law across Africa and its nominees are selected from individual practitioners and chambers across Africa and it will hold at the Lagos Oriental Hotel on Friday

The Award which is now firmly established as the leading award for African individual law practitioners and firms within the legal circle, is a definitive guide to who is who in the African legal service market and has a list of finalists dominated by Nigerian firms.

The most contested categories this year include the Law Firm of the Year category, Banking & Finance Team of the Year and M&A Team of Year, which pit the giants of the Nigerian legal services against foreign firms such as Bowman of South Africa, CGA of Mozambique and Kaplan & Stratton of Kenya.

Seyi Clement, the editor of Law Digest and the organiser of the award states that “Law Digest Africa Awards is a brand new concept in recognising and honouring excellence in the African legal services market, by recognising the contributions of individual lawyers, law firms, and in-house teams equally. I am pleased that the award has been well received across the continent. The quality of the submissions had been very impressive, which made judging very difficult,” he said.

He expressed his appreciation to the judges drawn from across Africa, including Nigeria’s Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), CON, who is also receiving the Lifetime Achievement for his efforts in Law & Jurisprudence at the ceremony, adding that Nigerian firms are competing on an equal footing with their long established counterparts from South Africa and in some cases out-performing them as well.

According to him, 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.