Dr. Oladapo Olanipekun SAN

Oladapo is the Lead Partner of the Firm and the visionary head of the Dispute Resolution and Policy Advisory Groups. His career is defined by a rare intersection of high-stakes litigation, academic depth, and regulatory expertise. His core competencies span Banking and Finance, Shareholder Disputes, Consumer Protection, and International Trade, as well as complex fields like Financial Crime, Constitutional Law, and the Enforcement of Maritime Claims.

Oladapo’s practice is rooted in rigorous scholarship. He earned his Bachelor of Law (LLB) from the University of Lagos, followed by a Master of Laws (LLM) in Corporate and Commercial Law from the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), Queen Mary University of London. He culminated his academic pursuit with a PhD in Law from the International Financial Law Unit at the same institution. His scholarly contributions include a tenure as a lecturer at the University of Lagos and his current role as Editor-in-Chief of the Banking and Financial Law Reports (BFLR). He also served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Lagos Bar Journal between 2019 and 2021, and remains a member of several editorial committees for prestigious legal and developmental publications.

In 2015, Oladapo was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Until 2019, he held the historic distinction of being the youngest person ever to receive this honor. His reputation as a "lawyer’s lawyer" is cemented by two invitations from the Court of Appeal to serve as amicus curiae, providing expert opinions on landmark commercial cases such as Nigerian Breweries PLC v. Dumuje and Independent Television/Radio v. Edo State Board of Internal Revenue. He has acted as counsel in landmark constitutional and criminal cases across the entire hierarchy of Nigerian courts.

Beyond Nigerian courts, Oladapo is a recognized authority in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). A Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators and a member of the CIArb (UK), he has served as an arbitrator and counsel in numerous proceedings. Notably, he has acted as an expert witness on Nigerian law before the High Court of Justice in England, bridging the gap between domestic and international systems. He was a partner at the elite firms of Femi Atoyebi & Co and Wole Olanipekun & Co. He is a member of the International Bar Association and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.