Advisory Council

Prof. Abdel Wahab is the Chair of Private International Law and Professor of International Arbitration at Cairo University. He is a Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration; Court Member of the LCIA; President of LCIA’s Arab Users’ Council; Court Member of the CIMAC, Vice President of the IBA Arbitration Committee; Member of the CIArb’s Practice and Standards Committee; Member of the CRCICA Advisory Committee; Member of AAA-ICDR International Advisory Committee and Member of the SIAC African Users’ Council’s Committee.

His expertise spans construction, oil & gas, telecommunications, finance and hospitality disputes involving cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and highly complex contracts and transactions. Prof. Abdel Wahab is also regularly recognised and ranked as a world leading dispute resolution practitioner in all leading legal directories. He recently won the 2018 ASA Prize for Advocacy in International Commercial Arbitration.

Mrs Adekoya, SAN is a Partner at ÆLEX, one of the largest full service commercial law firms in Nigeria, where she heads the Dispute Resolution team. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK and a past Chairperson of the Nigerian branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration.  She is the Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Vice President of LCIA’s Africa Users’ Council, Member – Panel of Arbitrators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), Member – Panel of Arbitrators of the International China International entre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Panel Member, Kigali International Arbitration Centre, Board Member of the Scottish International Arbitration Centre, and Vice President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA).

Mrs Adekoya, SAN, was appointed as a notary public in 1986 and became the 5th woman to be elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2001. She became a Member of the Body of Benchers in 1999 and was elevated to Life Bencher in March 2007. She is a former Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association.

Cherie Blair CBE, QC is the Founder and Chair of Omnia Strategy where she focuses on strategic international legal and advisory work and practices as a barrister. She is a Queen’s Counsel and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. With over 35 years’ experience as a leading barrister specialising in public international law, human rights, employment law, arbitration and mediation, Mrs. Blair has represented over 30 governments as well as numerous multinational corporations in international disputes. She was designated to serve on the ICSID panel of arbitrators in 2012, and is a panelist at the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration. 

Mrs. Blair was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1995 and is an accredited Advanced Mediator under the ADR Chambers/Harvard Law Project as well as an Elite Mediator with Clerksroom.  She is the founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, which runs programmes to support women entrepreneurs across the developing world, including Africa. She is also Vice Chair of the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership founded by Secretary Hillary Clinton. 

In 2007, she received the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill medal in recognition of her high ideals and courageous actions. In 2013, she was awarded the CBE in the New Year Honours for her services to women’s issues and to charity in the UK and overseas. Mrs Blair sits as an Honorary Chair of the World Justice Project.

Ms Haridi is a Partner in the International Arbitration Group at Hogan Lovells International LLP, New York. She is a civil and common law-trained trilingual lawyer who represents corporations and financial institutions all over the world in international commercial and investment arbitration under the rules of all major arbitral institutions. She also frequently sits as an arbitrator in international disputes. Born in Switzerland, she grew up in Belgium, Egypt, Morocco and France. Ms Haridi is a member of the New York, California and England & Wales Bars. She is fluent in French and Arabic and is also conversant in Spanish.

She is Vice President of LCIA’s Arab Users’ Council and also serves on the Board of Directors of the Arab Bankers Association of North America (ABANA). Ms Haridi is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the Panel of Arbitrators of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), and the Panel of Arbitrators of the Dubai International Arbitration Center (DIAC).

Mr Fagbohunlu (SAN) is a Partner and Head of the Litigation, Arbitration and ADR practice group at Aluko & Oyebode (a tier 1 commercial law firm in Nigeria). In December 2008, he was conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He regularly represents Nigerian as well as foreign and multinational clients in ad hoc and institutional arbitration. Prof (as he is fondly called) has served on the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Committee on the Reform and Harmonization of Arbitration/ADR Laws. He presently serves on the ICCA/Queen Mary University Task Force on Third Party Funding in International Arbitration.

He is a member of the London Court of International Arbitration (African Users Council), the International Arbitration Institute (IAI) in Paris and the LCIA Court. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK, Board Member of the Lagos Court of Arbitration and chairs the Management Board of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre (LACIAC). He recently co-authored the book “Arbitration in Africa: A Review of Key Jurisdictions” ( a book published by Sweet & Maxwell in 2016).

Audley Sheppard, QC is a Partner and Global Co-Head of the International Arbitration Group at Clifford Chance LLP, London. He specialises in the resolution of disputes arising out of infrastructure and energy projects, and international trade and investment. 

He is Chairman of the LCIA Board. He formerly served as the Vice President of the LCIA Court and ICC Court, Co-chair of IBA Arbitration Committee and the Rapporteur of ILA Arbitration Committee. He sits on the Editorial Boards of Business Law International, Journal of International Arbitration, International Arbitration Law Review; and Advisory Board, BIICL Investment Treaty Forum. He attended university in New Zealand and Cambridge, England. 

He is a visiting Professor at Queen Mary University, London, and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2015.

Hon. Justice Edward Torgbor is a Chartered Arbitrator and Mediator based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and Vice President of the LCIA African Users’ Council. Justice Torgbor’s is a Barrister in England, Judge of the High Court of Kenya, Professor of Law (Stellenbosch University) and Court Member of the LCIA.

He is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Zambia, Attorney at Law, Ghana, CIArb Lecturer and Tutor in Arbitration Law and Practice module. He has published in professional journals in Africa and United Kingdom.

Prof. Le Bars, is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Lazareff Le Bars. He represents clients in international arbitration, mediation and alternative dispute resolution and advises on contracts, international projects and litigation proceedings. He specialises in corporate law, international trade law, international contracts and the law of OHADA. In addition to his work as counsel, he has also served as President of arbitral tribunals, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator in a wide spectrum of international arbitrations.

He is an Associate Professor at the Vermont Law School (USA) and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cergy-Pontoise (Paris). He teaches corporate law, international arbitration and international law.

Mr Candide-Johnson (SAN) is the President of the Lagos Court of Arbitration and the Senior Partner at Strachan Partners- a leading Nigerian law firm with offices in Lagos and Abuja. He was conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 2003. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK. He is also an approved tutor and examiner for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK. He is an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for International Legal Studies in Salzburg, Austria and a supporting member of the London Maritime Arbitration Association.

Mr Candide-Johnson (SAN) is an author of several scholarly papers in the public sphere, and co-authored the book ‘Commercial Arbitration Law and International Practice in Nigeria’. He is a member of several associations including the Panel of Neutrals for the Lagos State Multi-Door Court House and the Nigerian Communications Commission Panel of Neutrals, among others. He previously served as the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law and Chairman of the Lagos State Arbitration Law Reform Committee.

Dr Emilia Onyema is an Associate Professor in the Law Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK. She teaches International Trade Law and International Commercial Arbitration on the SOAS LLM programme. She was formerly a Research Fellow at the School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London.

Dr. Onyema is qualified to practice law in Nigeria, England and Wales. She is also the alternate Tribunal Secretary of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal in London. She is listed on various arbitrator-selection panels. She is a member of the court of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre (LACIAC), and member of the Advisory Committee of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA). Her latest book published by Kluwer is an edited collection on, “The Transformation of Arbitration in Africa: the Role of Arbitral Institutions” (2016).

Mr Searle is a Partner in the International Arbitration Group and a member of the Africa Practice at Hogan Lovells International LLP, London. He has extensive experience in Africa related matters and co-ordinates the firm’s disputes practice in the region. He regularly acts for large multinationals in complex and high-value international arbitrations and cross-border disputes. He has extensive experience in Africa related disputes and is an active member of the firm’s cross-practice Africa group. Nathan also has experience in other emerging markets including Asia, India, Russia and the CIS.

Mr Searle has higher rights of audience in the English courts and regularly appears as an advocate in international arbitrations. He also advises clients on risk management and strategies to avoid or resolve disputes at an early stage.

Dr. Karton is an Associate Professor and the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research at the Queen’s University Faculty of Law, Ontario, Canada, where he teaches International Arbitration, Contracts, Conflict of Laws, Commercial Law, and Legal Research Methods. He has also held visiting positions at universities in Asia, South America, and Europe. He holds a BA in International Relations and Humanities from Yale, a JD from Columbia Law School, and a PhD in International Law from Cambridge. Before commencing his doctoral studies, he practiced in litigation and arbitration in the New York office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

Dr. Karton is an internationally recognized expert on international commercial dispute resolution, especially international arbitration, and has received multiple prizes for his research and teaching. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law and the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration. He is also closely engaged with international arbitration practice as a consultant and as a member of various task forces, working parties, and other practitioner groups.

Ms Oger-Gross is a Partner in the International Arbitration Group at White and Case, Paris. She advises clients in complex disputes and has vast arbitration experience, having been involved in arbitrations in Western and Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan and North Africa, North, Central and South America and Asia. Before moving to the Paris office in 2007, she was a member of the litigation and arbitration team at White and Case, New York.

Ms Oger-Gross is both common law and civil law qualified and acts in both English and French language arbitrations. She teaches international arbitration at Universite Paris Est Creteil Val-de-Marne, Paris (Pantheon-Assas), Sciences Po Paris and the Lagos Court of Arbitration.

Ms Sylvia Noury is a Partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and heads both the International Arbitration Team and Africa Disputes Group in London. Ms Noury has practised arbitration for two decades in the London, Paris and New York offices of Freshfields and specialises in commercial and treaty arbitrations, particularly in emerging markets, with a focus on Africa and Latin America. Ms Noury has advocated before ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA and AAA tribunals in English and Spanish. She has particular expertise in the energy, natural resources and telecoms sectors, and advises corporate and government clients. Ms Noury has acted in major disputes in a variety of jurisdictions, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iran, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Venezuela and Yemen. As well as advocating in hearings, she also assists clients in reaching successful and high profile settlements, including in the ICSID cases of Tullow v Uganda and MTN v Yemen and a series of commercial cases for the government of Kenya.

Ms Noury is a member of the Board of the Arbitration Institute of the SCC, the ICC UK Arbitration Committee and the ICC UK Arbitral Appointments sub-committee, as well as various other arbitration organisations, and has spoken and published widely in the field of arbitration. She is highly ranked by all the leading directories, including Chambers Africa. She is also the founder and co-chair of the Steering Committee of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge, which won the GAR Award for best development in 2017. Ms Noury holds a first class law degree from Cambridge University where she was awarded the Clive Parry Scholarship for Public International Law. She is fluent in Spanish and also speaks French.

Ms Lahlou is a Partner in the International Arbitration Group at Chaffetz Lindsey. She advises and represents U.S. and international clients on a range of commercial disputes in both international arbitration and litigation proceedings. Initially trained in Paris, she is experienced in civil and common law systems. She is admitted to practice in Paris and New York and is fluent in English, French and Italian. Yasmine attended a graduate program at the University of Texas at Austin Law School and received a Maîtrise en Droit from Paris X – Nanterre University.

Yasmine has co-authored several articles on U.S. arbitration law published in various journals, including Mealey’s International Arbitration Report and the International Law Office electronic newsletter. Yasmine currently serves as a co-chair of the Middle East Committee of the ABA Section of International Law. In November 2017, Yasmine Lahlou was recently listed on the Who’s Who Legal 2018: Future Leaders – Arbitration list for the Americas.

Mrs Akeredolu (SAN) is a Partner and the Head of the Litigation, Arbitration & ADR Practice at Banwo & Ighodalo (a tier 1 commercial law firm in Nigeria). She is a graduate of the University of Lagos, Nigeria, where she obtained two degrees – Bachelor of Arts (1986) and Bachelor of Laws (1990). She attended Universite des Langues et Lettres, Grenoble, France, from 1984 – 1985, for an academic year as part of her French degree programme and Universita Per Stranieri, Perugia, Italy, for a language programme in 1984 as a prize winner. She is quite renowned for her vast experience in commercial litigation and arbitration. Her multilingual skills (English, French, Italian and German) make her a lawyer with a difference.

In 2013, she was appointed as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ogun State – the first woman to be appointed to that office. In 2015, she was conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria. She previously served as the Secretary to the Organization of the Harmonization of African Laws.

Reza Mohtashami QC is a partner at Three Crowns LLP in London. He has represented clients as counsel and advocate in more than 75 arbitrations conducted under a variety of arbitration rules in many different jurisdictions. Reza has particular expertise in disputes arising in emerging markets with a focus on the telecoms, energy and infrastructure sectors. Prior to Three Crowns he worked in the arbitration practice at Freshfields where he established and led the firm’s global arbitration practice in the Middle East.

Reza is as an officer of the IBA Arbitration Committee, trustee of the DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre, member of the AAA-ICDR Advisory Committee, and editorial board member of the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin and Global Arbitration Review. He is the immediate past president of the LCIA Arab Users’ Council. Reza is a qualified English solicitor-advocate and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in recognition of his advocacy skills in 2018.  He speaks English, French and Farsi.

Mr Adenipekun, SAN is a Partner and Head of the Dispute Resolution Practice at Afe Babalola& Co (a top dispute resolution firm in Nigeria with offices in Ibadan, Lagos and Abuja).  He was appointed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2005. He regularly acts as arbitrator in a wide spectrum of domestic and international arbitrations.

Mr Adenipekun SAN is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK and serves as Nigeria’s representative at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague, Netherlands.

Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour is the Managing Partner of Doyin Rhodes-Vivour & Co, a full service law firm in Nigeria. She is a Chartered Arbitrator, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and a CEDR UK Accredited Mediator. She has practiced law for over three decades and specializes in commercial transactions, litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

She was recently appointed to serve on the ICC Court of Arbitration [2018 – 20121] and has served as a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR [2011 – 2018]. She has also served on the Task Force on the revision of the ICC Rules as well as the Taskforce on the Revision of the ICC Rules of Arbitration (Committee to review the decision as to costs) [2011-2015]. She has acted as Appointing Authority in UNCITRAL and other Ad Hoc Proceedings.

Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour was the Vice-Chairman of the 2nd ICC Africa Regional Arbitration Conference Planning Committee in 2017. She was also the Chairperson, Planning Committee of the ICC Nigeria Rules Launch of the Revised Rules of Arbitration 2012. She has significant experience in arbitration and ADR under the ICC, UNCITRAL and LCIA Rules and her expertise has been recognized in leading arbitration publications such as the arbitration chapter of Who’s Who Legal Nigeria.

Mr. Tevendale leads the International Arbitration Group at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, London. He also has extensive experience in litigation, expert determination and mediation with a particular focus on disputes in the energy, leisure, construction, engineering and telecommunications industries. His practice comprises multi-jurisdictional work subject to a wide range of governing laws.

Craig has acted in arbitrations as counsel, advocate and arbitrator in ad hoc proceedings and before major arbitral institutions including the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the American Arbitration Association (AAA). Craig is frequently instructed on disputes arising from investments, projects and transactions in Africa and the Middle East, including Iran. He is regularly published on issues relating to private international law, arbitration and energy disputes, and lectures on energy law at the University of London. He has also been appointed in expert determination proceedings as an expert in English law and is fluent in Arabic and French.

Chief Adebayo Ojo is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Commander of the Order of Niger (CON). He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1978. Since then, he has been in active practice in commercial law, international law, litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution practice. He has acted as a sole Arbitrator, member of arbitration panels and as Counsel in numerous sector-defining domestic and international arbitrations both at the ICC and the LCIA. He has also acted as an expert witness in investment arbitrations.

He is a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, past President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), past Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Nigeria Branch. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators London and President of the African Users’ Council of the LCIA.

He is affiliated with many professional associations including the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London Court of International Arbitration, Swiss Arbitration Association, Nigerian Maritime Arbitrators Association, Nigerian Energy Lawyers Group, International Bar Association and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association, to mention a few.