Chima Uzochukwu-Obi is an LLM candidate on the NYU College of Legislation, Class of 2026 and a Hauser International Scholar. He holds a Bachelor of Legal guidelines diploma from Nnamdi Azikiwe College in Nigeria the place he graduated with top notch honors. He went on to the Nigerian Legislation College the place he additionally graduated with top notch honors and was subsequently referred to as to the Nigerian Bar. On this interview with Stephen Onyekwelu, he tells the behind-the-scene story of his professional trajectory. Excerpts
You’ve constructed an early report of excellence – top notch at Nnamdi Azikiwe College and the Nigerian Legislation College, adopted by work at considered one of Lagos’s high business corporations. Once you look again now, what early experiences or mentors most formed the best way you consider legislation, self-discipline, and ambition?
I’ll say that I felt a must pursue excellence from a really younger age. It definitely helped that my dad and mom modeled self-discipline and integrity completely. I used to be lucky to win advantage scholarships each in secondary college and at college, and that gave me a way that arduous work might genuinely decide my trajectory.
It additionally instilled self-discipline in me. I understood that the one sustainable method to degree the enjoying subject was by way of constant advantage. Afterward, I had mentors at totally different levels of my life who strengthened that concept. I realized that ambition actually is empty with out self-discipline and duty. I’ve come a good distance since my secondary college and college days, however these life classes nonetheless information me.
G. Elias is thought for its high-stakes, high-standard company work. What did work on complicated transactions educate you about how enterprise and legislation work together – and the way did that have form your resolution to pursue company legislation extra deeply at NYU?
Working at G. Elias was the proper coaching floor for the sort of lawyer I wished to turn into. The agency handles a few of Nigeria’s most subtle company and finance work, and that surroundings compelled me to assume critically about how enterprise and legislation work together. The agency’s immersive strategy meant that whilst a younger lawyer, I used to be trusted with actual duty on complicated transactions.
I got here to see that each contractual provision represents an allocation of energy and belief, and that attorneys sit proper on the junction the place these choices are made. That realisationsparked my deeper curiosity in company legislation and ultimately led me to NYU, the place I might examine how legislation can be utilized to broaden entry to capital and strengthen the monetary programs that underpin progress.
You’re at the moment pursuing an LL.M. in Company Legislation at NYU as a Hauser International Scholar – considered one of the world’s best tutorial awards in legislation. How does that have match into your broader skilled journey?
Being chosen as a Hauser International Scholar has been one of many defining moments of my profession thus far. The Hauser programmeis considered one of NYU Legislation’s most prestigious scholarships, awarded to a handful of outstanding candidates from all over the world every year. For its half, the LLM in Company Legislation is an exceptionally well-tailored programme for my pursuits. Having spent years at G. Elias engaged on company and finance transactions, I wished to step again and examine those self same points – capital construction, regulation, market habits – at a deeper and extra comparative degree. This programmegives precisely that: an opportunity to interact with the mental foundations of the work I’ve been doing in apply. And actually, there’s no higher place to study finance than New York, the world’s monetary capital. I’m gaining deeper information on the right way to use legislation to construction transactions and create wider socio-economic affect.
You’re now immersed within the mental and cultural range of NYU’s world authorized neighborhood as a Hauser Scholar. What has shocked you most about how company legislation is considered in New York in comparison with Lagos?
Probably the most placing distinction I’ve seen is in how every system conceptualises threat. In New York, so far as I can inform, there’s a powerful emphasis on systemic threat and the soundness of your complete monetary ecosystem which is basically pushed by regulation and expertise. In Lagos, whereas there’s definitely some consciousness of the larger image, the main target tends to be extra transaction-specific, centered on execution and compliance.
Each approaches have worth, however seeing them aspect by aspect has been invaluable. It has helped me perceive that attorneys who grasp each views can act as bridges, connecting capital from superior markets to alternatives in growing ones. That intersection, to me, is the place Africa’s authorized and monetary future might be formed.
Serving as Graduate Editor of the Journal of Legislation and Enterprise locations you on the intersection of scholarship and apply. What sorts of rising points or debates in company legislation at the moment excite you essentially the most – and why?
I discover that I’m more and more concerned about questions of resilience, how legislation could make markets stronger. Matters like enterprise continuity, bail-in regimes, and new monetary devices fascinate me as a result of they’re about designing programs that endure shocks. The actual problem of recent company legislation is placing that stability between innovation and stability. I’m concerned about how we will craft authorized frameworks that permit enterprise to thrive whereas defending the broader financial system from systemic threat. That’s the place my tutorial {and professional} pursuits converge.
Each era of attorneys tends to redefine what company apply means in its time. From the place you stand, how do you see African attorneys, notably Nigerians, influencing the subsequent part of worldwide company legislation?
African attorneys are starting to play a much more assertive function in shaping world company apply. We’re transferring from simply implementing frameworks drafted elsewhere to originating concepts, contributing to reforms, and structuring cross-border offers that appeal to world funding. Nigerian attorneys, particularly, deliver a practical creativity to the desk: we’re used to navigating imperfect programs and nonetheless producing glorious outcomes. That adaptability is a sort of mental capital by itself. As Africa continues to combine into the worldwide monetary system, I count on that our perspective will turn into more and more essential.
For those who might redesign one side of how cross-border transactions are at the moment structured between Africa and the remainder of the world – authorized, regulatory, and even moral – what would you alter, and the way would you go about it?
Africa isn’t but the place it must be by way of the way it participates in world transactions, however we’re definitely transferring in the appropriate path. There’s large potential, a younger inhabitants, rising capital markets, and enhancing governance. Nonetheless, I believe too many cross-border transactions are structured from a spot of extreme warning towards African threat.
If I might redesign one side, it might be the stability of threat allocation. I’d wish to see transaction frameworks that mirror real partnership and recognise Africa’s potential slightly than simply its perceived volatility. Standardising fairer, context-sensitive deal constructions wouldn’t solely appeal to funding but in addition make that funding extra sustainable. That’s a part of what motivates my work: discovering methods for legislation to assist enhance capital entry.
Waiting for the subsequent decade, what would you need your skilled journey to symbolize – not simply by way of offers closed or positions held, however within the sort of affect you allow on the evolution of company legislation and governance?
Within the subsequent decade, I need my work to symbolize the concept excellence has no geography. I see my journey as proof that an African lawyer can function on the highest ranges of worldwide finance whereas serving to form programs that strengthen markets and establishments at house. Finally, I hope to be a part of a era that helps design authorized, monetary, and institutional programs able to creating lasting, structural affect. If I can look again and see that my work has contributed to constructing extra resilient and efficient programs that translate into improved dwelling requirements for individuals, that will be essentially the most fulfilling measure of success.
