International Lawyers for Africa Advisory Committee
Dapo Akande
Dapo Akande, University Lecturer in Public International at Oxford University. Prior to his appointment in Oxford, Dapo held positions in the law departments at the Universities of Durham and Nottingham. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the University of Miami, University of Edinburgh and at the London School of Economics and Christ's and Wolfson Colleges, Cambridge. He has advised and assisted counsel in several cases before international tribunals such as the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, as well as WTO and NAFTA dispute settlement panels.
Dr Adesegun Akin-Olugbade
Dr. Akin-Olugbade is General Counsel and Corporate Director of the African Finance Corporation. Former General Counsel and Director at the African Development Bank, Dr. Akin-Olugbade has over 20 years of experience in the legal /financial sector having worked at both the technical and management levels, in the public and private sector for leading corporate and commercial law firms. Dr. Akin-Olugbade was the Division Manager of the Finance and Administrative Affairs Division of the General Counsel and Legal Services Department of the AfDB and was the pioneer Chief Legal Officer and Head of the Legal Services Department of the African Export-Import Bank (Afriexim Bank).
Phillip Aliker
Phillip Aliker is a Barrister at Tanfield Chambers. He specialises in international commercial contractual disputes including international commercial arbitration and commercial litigation and property litigation.
He is a Chartered Arbitrator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators accepting appointments in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations.
Phillip is accredited as a mediator, he is admitted to the Roll of Advocates in Uganda, the Dubai International Financial Court and he is admitted as Foreign Legal Consultant in the State of New York.
Sir Franklin Berman QC
Franklin was Legal Adviser to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He is now in practice in Essex Court Chambers specializing in international arbitration and advisory work in international law. He is Visiting Professor of International Law at Oxford, at the University of Cape Town, and at King's College London.
He advises in all areas of public international law, international dispute-settlement proceedings and international commercial arbitration. He also sits as Arbitrator in ICSID arbitrations and in arbitrations under the ICC and LCIA (sole arbitrator) and ad hoc.
Sir William Blair
Bill Blair graduated from Oxford University, and practised at the English Bar where he specialised in the law of banking and finance, becoming a Queen's Counsel in 1994. He was Chairman of the Commercial Bar Association between 2003 and 2005, and is a Visiting Professor at both the London School of Economics and the Centre for Commercial Law Studies.
He has written and spoken widely on legal subjects, particularly on finance and the law, most recently as co-author of Banks and Financial Crime which was published by the Oxford University Press in 2008. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, of London's Financial Markets Law Committee, and chairs the Monetary Law Committee of the International Law Association. He served as Chairman of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Tribunal until 2011.
He was appointed a High Court Judge in England and Wales in 2008, being one of the nominated judges who sit in the Commercial Court.
Professor James Crawford, SC, FBA
James is Whewell Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge and Chair of the Faculty of Law. He was formerly Director of the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law, also at Cambridge. James has an extensive practice in international law and international arbitration, appearing before the ICJ, ITLOS, ICSID and ICC tribunals. He has been an arbitrator in ICSID and ad hoc arbitrations as well as in inter-state cases, is a member of the ICSID panel of arbitrators, author of numerous books, and co-editor of the British Yearbook of International Law.
The Honourable Mrs Justice Dobbs DBE
Dame Linda Dobbs, DBE was called to the bar in 1981, and worked as a barrister specialising in criminal law, She became a QC in 1998, and was appointed as a deputy High Court judge in February 2003, without having previously held appointment as a Recorder.
She became chairman of the Criminal Bar Association in September 2003, but stood down when she was appointed a High Court judge in September 2004, without having sat as a deputy High Court judge, despite having been so appointed. She received the customary DBE, and was assigned to the Queen's Bench Division, occasionally sitting in the Divisional Court of the Queen's Bench Division, the Administrative Court, and the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal. She has subsequently been appointed as chairman of the Magisterial Committee of the Judicial Studies Board.
Richard Dowden
Richard Dowden first worked in Africa as a volunteer teacher at a bush school in Uganda in the early 1970s. After joining The Times foreign desk in 1980, he reported from the Middle East and Africa, before being appointed Africa Editor at The Independent when it was founded in 1986. During the next nine years he visited almost every country in sub-Saharan Africa. He later became Diplomatic Editor.
In 1995 he was invited to join The Economist as Africa Editor. A year later, he began working as a freelance journalist and writer. In November 2002 he was appointed Director of the Royal African Society. In addition to writing extensively about Africa, he has made three full length documentaries on Africa for Channel 4 and the BBC as well as several shorter films. He also continues to write on African issues and appears frequently as a commentator on African affairs on the BBC, CNN, Sky News and other broadcast media.
His book: Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles was published by Portobello Books in September 2008.
Jeffrey Golden
Jeffrey Golden is a Visiting Professor in the Law Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Director of MFX Solutions, Inc., an industry initiative providing currency hedging for microfinance. He recently retired from international law firm Allen & Overy LLP, which he joined as a partner in 1994 after 15 years with the leading Wall Street practice of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He was the founder partner of Allen & Overy's US law practice and senior partner in the firm's global derivatives practice and has extensive experience of a wide range of capital markets matters. He acts for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, was a principal author of ISDA's master agreements and has appeared as an expert witness in several high profile derivatives cases.
Jeffrey has served on the American Bar Association's working group on the rule of law and economic development (Chair), He is Chairman of the Society of English and American Lawyers (SEAL), a former Chairman of the American Bar Association's Section of International Law, Co-Chair of its Financial Engineering for Economic Development (FEED) Task Force, a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a Trustee of the International Bar Association Foundation and General Editor of the Capital Markets Law Journal (Oxford University Press).
Professor Maurice Mendelson QC
Maurice is a barrister at Blackstone Chambers, specialising in public international law including international litigation and arbitration; negotiations with and for governments; advising; and expert evidence. Areas include: boundaries; law of the sea; jurisdiction; investment protection; diplomatic and state immunity; human rights.
Sandie Okoro
Sandie is Group General Counsel at Baring Asset Management, a global asset management company which is part of the MassMutual Financial Group. She manages a team of lawyers that are based in London, Boston and Hong Kong, and she is responsible for the management of Barings legal risk across the globe. She is also a director of Baring International Investment Limited.
Prior to joining Barings in May 2007, Sandie was Head of Legal for Corporate Services at Schroders. In her spare time, Sandie is also Chair of the CLO (Chief Legal Officers), Programme and a trustee of LawWorks, a member of the Women's Leadership Team of the Princes' Trust and an Ambassador for the Law Society Diversity Access Scheme. Until July 2010 she was also a Foundation Governor at La Retraite Catholic Girls School in London and for four years up until 2006, Sandie was a non-executive director of Family Mosaic, a London based housing association.
She was one of The Lawyer magazine's Hot 100 lawyers in 2005 and was also a shortlisted nominee for the In-house Lawyer of the Year at The Lawyer 2009 Awards. Sandie mentors young aspiring lawyers by providing bespoke one-off one-to-one mentoring.
Honourable Olasupo Shasore SAN
Olasupo Shasore is the Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State, Nigeria where
he plays an integral role in what is often referred to as one
of the most successful Lagos State governments ever.
The Rt Hon Clare Short MP
The Rt Hon Clare Short is a Member of Parliament and former Secretary of State for International Development.