Africa’s Biggest Law Firms

How Olaniwun Ajayi Built One of Africa’s Biggest Law Firms

six pence. The young teenager understood that, given his family’s financial realities, he would have to save up if he had any intentions of further pursuing his education. He started by saving a little over 20% of his monthly salary and later increased it to 50%. By the end of one year as a teacher, he had saved up £6 (six pounds).

He applied for a four-year teacher course at Wesley College, Ibadan, Oyo State, and was admitted. It was, however, a struggle to pull through the four years in college as his savings could only take him so far, and there was very little support to be expected from the family.

Indeed the circumstances of a man’s birth are no grounds to predict how much heights he would attain. For the humble beginnings which Sir Olaniwun Ajayi started from, there could have been no telling just how far he would grow. Infact, some say he died a giant after making so many conspicuous contributions to family, the legal profession, and society.

Olaniwun Ajayi was born in his father’s small parlour in Isara Remo on April 8, 1925, to Mr Benjamin Awoyemi Ajayi, a farmer and Marian Efundolamu Ajayi, a petty trader. He was first taken to live and school at his uncle’s place in Epe, Lagos state, but stopped school after a while as his uncle could not keep up with paying the fees. His father took him back to Isara Remo, and he continued his primary education.

Olaniwun was quite intelligent, so much that after completing his primary education in Ode-Remo, the school engaged him as a teacher on a monthly salary of 10 shillings, Finishing the course changed his financial lot significantly, as he became supervisor of schools for the entire Remo and Ijebu province. But teaching was, for Ajayi, only a means to his ultimate dream. He later travelled to the United Kingdom in 1957. He was admitted to the City of London College, Moorgate, London (now known as City University), where he studied to become a Chartered Secretary and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators.

He attended the London School of Economics and the Political Science University of London in 1959, where he obtained a Law degree. Expectedly, he had to work his way through school. He enrolled at the Council of Legal Education, Lincoln’s Inn as well, in 1959 and was called to the English Bar in July 1962. He was enrolled as Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on November 2, 1962.

Back in Nigeria, he worked in the legal department of UAC Group, and rose to the position of assistant group legal adviser.

From public service to private practice

Resigning from UAC group threw Ajayi into a different terrain altogether. The then Governor of the Western State, Brig. Gen. Christopher Rotimi appointed Olaniwun as commissioner for education for two years and as commissioner for health for another three years.

After this brief stint in public service, Sir Ajayi set up his private practice as a lawyer. On November 2, 1962, Sir Ajayi founded the law firm Olaniwun Ajayi & Co. From the onset; it was designed to be an international legal practice since Ajayi himself had been called to the English Bar. The firm was focused on providing legal advisory, arbitration and receivership services.

Olaniwun Ajayi LP has built an extensive portfolio across the financial, corporate, energy and natural resources and regulatory advisory practice areas within the last 60 years. The firm has acted for some of the biggest corporations in Africa and across the globe and recently launched a Londonbased international practice fully licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, becoming the first law firm out of Africa to achieve this.

The firm is an international practice with lawyers qualified in multiple jurisdictions, including Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the State of New York. It has been involved in some of the biggest and most complex cases.

More than half a century after it was founded, the firm still stands strong among leading law firms in Nigeria and is internationally competitive. Under the leadership of Professor Konyinsola Ajayi, SAN, the firm has evolved into a limited partnership, Olaniwun Ajayi LP.

Sir Ajayi authored five books, including his autobiography and “Nigeria: Africa’s Failed Asset”. He retired from active legal practice about 20 years before he died on November 4, 2016.

Isioma Idigbe: Nigeria’s Media and Entertainment Law Evangelist

Isioma Idigbe’s passion for art, culture and some unattainable goals didn’t prevent her from becoming a lawyer; instead, she combined her enthusiasm with her talent and created something out of the ordinary. The inventive attorney and founder of the University of Kent Nigerian Law Society, is also the head of media, entertainment and intellectual property law at Punuka Attorney and Solicitors. And since her debut, Idigbe has immensely continued to contribute to the development of the Nigerian film industry through workshops, consultations and presentations.

to be a lawyer because that would give me the opportunity to fight for people’s rights, like, on behalf of a client”.

She enrolled in the University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom in 2010 to study Law and on getting back to Nigeria, she registered with the Nigerian Law School. It was during this course that she was inspired by her partner to pursue a further legal education. She learned that her partner’s creative industry friends were constantly faced with legal problems and out of the desire to help, she developed a passion for Entertainment Law and decided to study at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University Toronto, Canada in 2016.

Early Life

She completed her junior and senior secondary schooling at Igbinedion Secondary School and Atlantic Hall Co-educational Secondary School respectively.

At that point, choosing a career path was the next step, and initially, she had no plans to become a lawyer. According to Idigbe in an interview, “I had intended to be a politician and when I started to think about how I was going to make a living, I was not willing to be corrupt. It didn’t seem like there was much of a living that I could make from being a politician, so the next best thing for me was

Debut into the Media and Entertainment Law

At first, it felt like a hard nut to crack since the technique was new to Nigeria, but Isioma Idigbe persevered and began working at the family business, where she practised, received training, and made the most of the opportunity.

When she completed her study in Entertainment Law, Idigbe came back to build a reputation for herself while earning a decent living from it. In an interview with Daily Family, she stated “When I came back I had this pool of clients and really, it comes back to the real reason why I decided to do Law, it’s about solving people’s problems, it’s about helping people.”

So far, Idigbe has made a name for herself by helping major local and international clients navigate critical situations and resolve their matters. She is recognised as a speaker for various local and international conferences and has performed for the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers (IAEL) which normally holds annual conferences in Cannes, France.

Other Personal Achievements

Aside from being the founder of the University of Kent Nigerian Law Society, she is also its first president and a student mentor in the Kent Law School Professional Mentoring Scheme.

Along with serving as the managing director of Verif Content Company, which deals with intellectual property in Nigeria, she is also the secretary of the Music Publishers Association of Nigeria (MPAN).

Outside her firm work, Idigbe has been heavily involved in policy work affecting Nigeria’s film industry, including leading the research team on the regulatory framework in the Nigerian Film and Television industries.

Occasionally, she would also organise extensive Media and Entertainment Law training sessions in Nigeria, including the annual free training she offers to her firm’s media and entertainment groups at the prestigious Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF).

Due to her achievements in the Nigerian film industry, she has received the Rising Star Award at the 2018 Law Digest Awards. “Sometimes, you step into something new to solve problems and money will come after, you need to understand that if money is the end goal it might not always work out,” Isioma Idigbe once said in reference to her audacious decision to launch a whole new practice.