Afolabi Elebiju, a versatile commercial lawyer and multidisciplinary business consultant with cutting edge transaction structuring expertise – and widely acknowledged as one of Nigeria’s leading tax and regulatory lawyers – is the founding Principal of LeLaw Barristers & Solicitors.
Afolabi has almost three decades’ of premium corporate/commercial law and business consulting experience, in leading Nigerian and multinational professional services firms: Olaniwun Ajayi LP (Associate, 1995 – 1997), Andersen/KPMG Professional Services (Snr. Consultant – Snr. Manager, 1998 – 2006) and Templars (Partner, 2007 – 2013). He has variously worked as team member, manager or leader of engagement teams for global market leaders, blue chip Nigerian corporates and HNIs, the public sector and international agencies on diverse transactions, including big ticket, market defining, cross-border deals.
His advisory and transaction implementation support work has covered amongst others: Nigerian entry, operating/growth and exit strategies for foreign investors, mergers and acquisitions, privatisation engagements, sectoral legal tax regulatory reviews, corporate governance compliance and ethics reviews, regulatory policy advocacy, legal regulatory compliance process improvement consultancy, dispute resolution strategy, etc.
Prior to LeLaw, he was General Counsel (2013 – 2014), and later, Consultant/Senior Advisor (2014-2015, a part-time role) at African Capital Alliance (ACA), Nigeria’s foremost private equity (PE) firm focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Gulf of Guinea. As leader of ACA’s legal function, he was heavily involved in the whole gamut of legal regulatory support services and collaboration with stakeholders across the PE value chain in furtherance of the firm’s business objectives.
As external counsel, his legal practice experience also includes civil and commercial litigation at trial and appellate courts, investment disputes arbitration and tax litigation. He was the tax and regulatory team leader at Templars where he also supported the Corporate & Commercial, Finance, Energy & Projects and Dispute Resolution Groups. He was the tax champion in the international counsel team that obtained an arbitral award in favour of Erha PSC co-venturers against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in October 2011, which amounted (with interest) to US$2.67 billion as at August/September 2019: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxon-mobil-shell- nigeria-idUSKCN1VP2VW.
His 8 year experience at Andersen/KPMG’s Tax & Regulatory Services practice included offshore secondment to Dundas & Wilson (Scottish member firm of defunct Andersen Legal) working with their Infrastructure and Technology Groups for diverse clients. Over his career, he was involved with several strategy papers, making legal regulatory input to business plans for clients and employers. In 2004, he was charged with leading KPMG’s Executive Selection and Training (EST) Group, during which he led several training and recruitment engagements for blue chip clients and championed a six-month transformation plan that culminated in the recruitment of substantive Group Head.
LeLaw. We are a niche Nigerian commercial law firm with clear vision and mission, imbued by a deep sense of values. We are a collegial, performance driven firm with in-depth transaction expertise and proven thought leadership in commercial law practice, including:
• Full range of corporate and commercial law advisory services including optimal tax and regulatory structuring of, and implementation support on, cross-border and big ticket transactions.
• Tax, commercial and civil litigation; and provision of dispute resolution advisory services: strategy design, review and support.
• Nigerian entry and exit strategies for foreign investments, including provision of compliance requirements support; mergers and acquisitions, Group restructurings.
• Mastery of sectoral landscape – FSI, energy and utilities, ICT, FMCG, Real Estate, hospitality, not for profits, public sector and policy reforms, etc.
• Law firm strategy advisory and support services focusing on competitive strategy, organisational and process improvement, entity/firm/practice transformation and renewal, etc.
• Training – tax, legal and regulatory training services, training needs assessment and curriculum design, facilitation at professional development training programmes.
At LeLaw, we are passionately committed to helping our clients succeed in the market place and make positive, enduring impact in their communities. We thrive on “doing things differently”, operating at the highest levels of engagement on client issues to deliver bespoke, optimal and pragmatic solutions. Our versatile team has multi specialist and multidisciplinary background. Having worked with leading Nigerian and multinational professional services and for diverse clientele across all sectors, we are uniquely positioned to understand our clients’ industries as well as anticipate/craft solutions to their business issues. Our services leverage deep sectoral expertise, thorough understanding of Nigerian legal tax regulatory framework, the business landscape and strong regulatory relationships. We delight ourselves with the challenge of continually using our unique insights to help bring our clients’ visions to life.
Nigeria
