2020 NBA-SBL’s Annual Business Law E-Conference Will Offer Lawyers & Business Managers Opportunity To Evolve — Conference Chair

The Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) 2020 Conference Chair, Mrs. Ozofu Ogiemudia, has given an overview of how the NBA-SBL’s 14th Annual Business Law e-Conference, which also happens to be the NBA-SBL’s first e-Conference scheduled to take place on 16th and 17th July, 2020 on the Hopin.to platform will be.

Mrs. Ogiemudia disclosed these issues in an interview which was made available to TheNigeriaLawyer.

The NBA-SBL Chair who is also a partner with a top tier law firm, Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie said the conference will still go on despite the Covid-19 pandemic. She said preparation for the conference started since December 2019 and besides, the pandemic offers opportunities for lawyers and business managers to evolve.

“We started preparing for the 14th Annual Business Law Conference in December 2019. By the time COVID-19 had become a pandemic, we were already far along in our preparations. It would have been easier, and certainly understandable if we decided to cancel this year’s conference or postpone it to 2021, but we believe that just as we cannot shut down our law firms or expect our clients to close up their businesses due to the pandemic, we have to carry on as best we can and work to develop an understanding of the new way of doing business during and after the pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic offers an unprecedented and unique opportunity for us to evolve as lawyers, business managers and as a professional body. We decided to embrace the challenge of re-inventing our conference as an e-Conference while still delivering the quality of speakers and conversation around relevant issues that are associated with the NBA-SBL Conference. We have ensured that our conference theme and the topics of the panel discussions are all relevant to the realities of the current pandemic and will lead to interesting engagements on how we forge ahead long after the pandemic is over. The theme of the e-Conference is Business Unusual: Digital Acceleration for Growth in a New World.”

On what informed the choice of theme for the e-conference: “Business Unusual: Digital Acceleration for Growth in a New World”, Mrs. Ogiemudia said there is need for lawyers to find ways of conducting business digitally and how some sectors like banking, oil & gas, technology, maritime, aviation, travel and tourism can come out successfully from this pandemic.

“One of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the unprecedented global shift to a virtual and digital way of life. The business world has been irreversibly disrupted and even the most traditional professions (such as the legal profession) have had to find a way to conduct their businesses digitally. As the Section on Business Law, we feel it is important for us to drive the discussion around how to navigate the ‘new world’ that will continue to evolve from this pandemic and consider how, as business lawyers, we can leverage technology to position ourselves as catalysts for growth. The e-Conference will also offer an opportunity for us to look closely at certain key sectors of the Nigerian economy and discuss what players in those sectors can do to come out successfully on the other side of this pandemic. Those sectors include banking, oil & gas, technology, maritime, aviation, travel and tourism.” she said

She also said the nature of the conference is such that will feature a mix of plenary sessions and more focused break-out sessions. The tradition of having a keynote speaker who will set the tone for the topic to be discussed at the conference has also been retained. The keynote speaker for this year is Sen. William “Mo” Cowan. Sen. Cowan served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from February 1, 2013 to July 16, 2013. He is the President, Global Government Affairs and Policy (GAP) and Developed Markets for General Electric Co. (GE). GE is one of the leading global companies in technology and innovation.

When asked about how the discussion during the conference will influence remote working and meetings, Mrs. Ogiemudia said:

“I think that some of the changes that have had to be made as a result of the pandemic, such as those you have identified i.e. remote working, virtual meetings and incorporating digital technology into our service delivery are here to stay, and will remain with us even after the pandemic. I expect that we will adapt to a business environment that is more flexible and dynamic than was previously the case, especially for an industry such as the legal industry that has traditionally been very conservative and slow to change.

“With respect to the conference, our panel topics are very relevant to the conversation around the shift to a digital-led world. We will have a panel session that will discuss how the legal industry can catch up, and learn to move forward successfully leveraging on digital technology. Other sessions will focus on current issues including the state of the maritime industry; patenting a cure for COVID-19; e-health and the role of technology in healthcare delivery; and the recovery of the travel and tourism sectors. Our debate sessions, which is always a platform for the best and brightest of our young lawyers will examine the topic, “The ‘Next Normal’: Practice in a borderless legal profession” from various perspectives, seeking to answer the questions”: Is digital technology an aid or inhibitor of legal practice?; Are 9-5 work patterns still relevant?; and Are Nigerian-trained lawyers well-equipped for practice in the Digital Age?
”
She said the legal profession is conservative and even the leading law firms that had already begun to incorporate digital technology into their processes have had to adapt like everyone else. She added that the business of law is not an end in itself but are there to provide a service which help clients do business. Therefore, anything that affects the businesses clients also ultimately affects the profession.

To her, the profession has to adapt by embracing the #WFH culture (i.e. work from home), supporting employees by providing the tools required for remote working, remaining in contact with their clients virtually and continuing to provide our services electronically. “Even the courts have had to adapt and have begun hearing cases virtually. The regulators with which we relate routinely have also adapted and most of them now permit electronic submission of documents.

“We are mindful that the pandemic has affected us all in different ways and to varying degrees. Some have been hit harder than others, and it is important to evaluate how we cope with the ensuing pressures. We are very pleased with the session topics for the e-Conference, and the rich faculty of speakers that have committed to share their time, knowledge and wealth of experience with the participants at the conference, and we are confident that our participants will have a fulfilling experience at the e-conference.” she said

Mrs. Ogiemudia gave details of the Keynote speakers drawn from within and outside Nigeria. They are Sen. William “Mo” Cowan who will deliver the keynote address; Hon. Mr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, CFR, the Chief Justice of Nigeria as well as the NBA President, Mr Paul Usoro, SAN; The Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, as one of the panellists and Mr Okey Enelamah, the immediate past Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment.

Other panellists that represent the best of the global legal and business community include Mr Nigel Boardman, Chair of Slaughter and May’s Africa Practice; Mr. Karl Hennessee. Senior Vice President, Litigation, Investigations & Regulatory Affairs at Airbus; Mr Mitchell Elegbe, MD, Interswitch; Prof. Ruth Okediji. Jeremiah Smith. Jr, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; Prof. Terry Fisher. WilmerHale also of Harvard Law School; and TV legend, Ms. Joke Silva, Chairman, Lagos State Post COVID-19 Pandemic Review Committee.

Commenting on the speakers, Mrs. Ogiemudia said “Our speakers represent an extensive range of private sector law firms and organisations as well as regulatory authorities and governmental bodies. Our keynote speaker is someone that will be able to offer invaluable insight on our theme from his experience working in the United States Senate and presently in General Electric, and we are very excited to hear from him.

“We encourage delegates to follow us on social media and visit our conference website nbasblconference.org for the latest updates on our confirmed speakers and an overview of the e-conference sessions.”

Mrs. Ogiemudia said this year’s e-conference have offerings for lawyers on every cadre of the profession i.e. senior lawyers, young lawyers, advocates, solicitors, business lawyers, arbitrators, legal business administrators.

She said the topics were carefully selected to ensure that there is something for everyone adding that unique events have been created for participants, combining the plenary sessions, noteworthy presentations and stimulating debates with a new digital networking experience and seamless conferencing interface.

In response to question as to whether SBL conferences present learning opportunities for young lawyers across the country, Mrs. Ogiemudia said:

“We are confident that the nature of the conference as an e-Conference will appeal to all young lawyers regardless of where they may be in Nigeria. Our debate session is designed, presented and judged by our young lawyers and will deal with topics such as “Pay cuts in a COVID-era: a necessary sacrifice by all, or an unfair burden on already under-paid lawyers?” which I am sure every young lawyer will have an opinion on! The pandemic will have affected all lawyers to varying extents and could have an impact on our wellbeing. For this reason, the e-conference will include a session on the physical and psychological wellbeing of legal practitioners.

“The e-conference platform has the capability to match delegates randomly with other delegates for a 3-minute speed networking experience. This will ensure that one of the key features of an in-person conference, namely networking opportunities, will be a key feature of our e-conference. We are confident that this will be particularly useful to our young lawyers as it will give them unprecedented access to our speakers and delegates and help them expand their growing network of key contacts.”

Lastly, the conference Chair listed notable examples of how deliberations at the NBA-SBL conferences have driven policy changes or led to the enactment of legislation that affect economic growth

“The 12th Annual Business Conference was themed, “Bringing Down the Barriers: The Law as a Vehicle for Intra-Africa Trade.” It focused on the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (“AfCFTA”) and the implications of the AfCFTA for Nigeria and the African continent. The conversations at that conference led to the involvement of the NBA-SBL, represented by the current Chairperson of the NBA-SBL, Mr Seni Adio, SAN, on the Presidential Committee for Impact and Readiness Assessment of AfCFTA, inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari. Following this, the NBA-SBL has remained active in supporting the federal government in its preparedness for the implementation of AfCFTA.

“The NBA-SBL has been an active partner with the various arms of government, at federal and state levels, in supporting economic growth through legislative advocacy. To this end, the NBA-SBL worked actively with the National Assembly and the Enabling Business Environment Secretariat of the Presidency on the bill to repeal and re-enact the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 (“CAMA”), the Investments and Securities Act 2007 and the Labour Act, among others. The CAMA is Nigeria’s 30-year old companies act, which is grossly outdated. The CAMA Bill was previously passed by the National Assembly, but not signed by President Buhari. A revised version of the Bill is currently going through the legislative process and, once it is passed by the 9th National Assembly and assented to by the President, it will become law. The NBA-SBL is committed to supporting the efforts of the federal government in respect of the CAMA bill and for this reason, the e-Conference will feature a fireside chat with the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission on the CAMA bill.”

The Conference Chair, Mrs Ozofu Ogiemudia is a member of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie’s Corporate Advisory team specialises in Mergers & Acquisitions, and Private Equity. As a result, she routinely advise on company law and corporate governance, foreign investments, mergers, acquisitions, take-over bids and corporate restructurings. She also co-heads the firm’s pro bono practice through which they provide legal support to non-profit organisations and social entrepreneurs.

Under the umbrella of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on Business Law (“NBA-SBL”), she chaired the technical advisory committee that advised the Nigerian Senate on the bill to repeal and re-enact the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 and the Investments and Securities Act 2007. She is currently the Thematic Lead of the Regulatory Working Group of the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) that is to assist the National Assembly in identifying and improving bills that relate to any aspect of the regulatory environment.

She is currently the Vice-Chairperson of the NBA-SBL Committee on Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Restructurings.