Isdore Ozuo

Partner

Professional Background

Isdore is the Firm’s Managing Partner. He is a brilliant and seasoned lawyer with several years’ experience in legal practice. He cut his teeth practicing law with one of the top law firms in Nigeria. He has advised and represented several multinational and local companies in diverse areas of law such as high-level commercial disputes; oil & gas litigation, employment and industrial relations negotiation and litigation, intellectual property litigation, maritime and admiralty dispute, real estate practice, debt recovery, data protection etc. He has practiced and appeared in all the superior courts of record in Nigeria (i.e., the Federal and State High Court, the National Industrial Court; the Customary Court of Appeal; the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria). His dedication to his clients work is second to none. He brings to bear his expertise and scholarship on any client engagement. Besides dispute resolution, Isdore has significant experience in corporate and commercial work and has assisted clients with due diligence in mergers and acquisition, business advisory and expert opinion on relevant legislation.

Isdore enjoys playing chess at his leisure time and he is happily married.

Education

2017 – University of Kent, LLM (Distinction)
2014 – Admitted to the Nigerian Bar
2013 – Nnamdi Azikiwe University, LLB (First Class)

Professional Trainings & Certifications
  • Nigerian Bar Association

  • The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK).

  • NBA Section on Legal Practice

Awards & Recognitions
  • Global Skills Award, Kent Graduate School, United Kingdom 2017

  • Kent Law School Taught Masters Overseas Scholarship, 2016

Speeches & Publications
  1. “Discontinuance of an Action: A Review of the Practice of Courts in Nigeria’ The Gravitas Review of Business and Property Law Vol. 11 No. 4 2023 108 – 121. Available here
  1. Limits of Practice Directions: A Review of NIC Practice Direction (No. 1) 2022. Published on The Guardian on 25 August 2022. Available here
  1. Incorporation of host communities’​ development trust: comments on the timeframe and penalty for non-compliance published in August 2022 (co-authored with Emmanuella Cyril-Hart). Available here
  1. Practical considerations for training bonds co-authored with Michael Iwuoha. Published on Lexology in September 2021. Available here
  1. ‘Appeal from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court on grounds of mixed law and fact: a right in legal limbo?’ The Gravitas Review of Business and Property Law Vol. 11 No. 4 (2020) 108 – 121. (co-authored with I.O Akpuchukwu). Available here
  1. ‘Normative Development of the Crime of Aggression: The Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute or the Malabo Protocol?’ African Journal of Criminal Law and Jurisprudence 4 (2019) 172 -183. Available here
  1. “Emergency Arbitration and the New Rivers State Arbitration Law 2019’ co-authored with Tonye Krukrubo and Morris Odeh in December 2019. Available here
  1. ‘False online publication injurious to another: an examination of prank as a defence under Nigerian law” co-authored with Innocent Ekpen and Morris Odeh in November 2019. Available here
  1. Limitation of Action in Tax Matters and the Recent Decision of the Tax Appeal Tribunal in Nigeria’ co-authored with Tonye Krukrubo and Morris Odeh in October 2019. Available here
  1. ‘Criminalization of Aggression in International Law: The Role and Position of African States’ African Journal of Criminal Law and Jurisprudence 4 (2018) 15 – 25. Available here
  1. ‘To be or not to be’: A Short Note on Joint Criminal Enterprise before the International Criminal Court’, African Journal of Criminal Law and Jurisprudence, 1 (2017) 57 – 66. Available here
  1. ‘The Crime of Aggression and Africa: A Critical Exposition’ (2017) dissertation submitted to Kent Law School, University of Kent. Available here
  1. ‘African Exit from the International Criminal Court: Responding to the Misplaced Criticisms’ AJCLJ 1 (2016) 180 – 190. Available here
  1. “Police Prosecution at the High Court Not Certain: A Review of Osahon v FRN’ African Journal of Law and Criminology 5 (2015) 94-103
  1. “Treaties and International Customs in Nigeria’ (2014) Journal of Current Issues in Nigerian Law 2 (2014) 57-78