I was born in Nigeria and came to England when I was 15 to go to boarding school to do my A-Levels. I did a couple of degrees – economics in London and a law degree in Oxford. I did my articles at and joined Wilde Sapte as a litigator and that is what I have done since. I have been at BCLP for 12 years and before that I was a partner at DLA Piper for five years.
I try and balance practice and being managing partner. My practice has been strongly focused on civil fraud litigation and, jurisdictionally, on sub-Saharan African – it’s a region in which for obvious reasons I am very comfortable marketing in. I head BCLP’s Africa and civil fraud litigation practices.
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I did my first degree in economics and went back to Nigeria to do national service. It is more like community service and I worked with local communities in executing projects like building infrastructure and teaching in schools.
I worked in a local bank and had the option of pursuing a career in banking but it didn’t take with me. I was also the product of two high achieving medical professionals and they always prompted me to think about what I am going to do next. The law seemed to be attractive and intellectually challenging, my sister was a lawyer and got the opportunity to read law at Oxford.
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As a 15/16-year-old starting boarding school in England, it was rough, it was a public school in Suffolk in the early/mid-80s. Casual racism was rife. I had to learn a style of confidence and protection of self-esteem and self-regard.
Having spent formative years in Nigeria stood me good stead. I had a strong sense of identity, which helped me to develop a sense of inner confidence that was a shield against racism. There were also self-imposed challenges and I placed demands on myself. As a result, I have a very strong internal critic which is something I still have to cope with and manage, lest it spills over into unhealthy perfectionism.
There weren’t many, if any, Black partners in City law firms when I started training in 1991, although in my intake there were quite a high number of BAME trainees (three or four I recall), one whom is now a partner at Ashurst.
When I joined DLA in London as an associate in 1999, I believe that Trevor James was the only black partner and he went on to become managing partner at Morrison Forster’s London office. Would it have helped if there were more? Definitely. Was it daunting? No – I was fortunate enough to have several senior people who were role models regardless of race.
The key is to build alliances and find supportive colleagues regardless of race. Having a more inclusive and diverse workforce will aid that. I think that self-assurance and confidence is important but it needs to be supported by a network of support and allies and becomes a self-fulfilling cycle.
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I think that the numbers don’t lie – when you look at the representation of Black people at City firms in London it is unrepresentative of the society in which we are based. Not enough people of colour are making their way through from trainees to partners. Although BCLP has one of the highest percentages of BAME partners in the City, I am still acutely aware that we could also do much better in terms of retention and promotion of our Black lawyers.
There is a drop off in retention and promotion and we have to ask why they aren’t getting through the pipeline. One of the factors in many firms is work allocation; it lends itself to the implicit biases that are present in society – people tend to want people who look like them to work with them, which can lead to a skew toward the dominant lawyers. At BCLP we are looking at how to improve our work allocation to ensure everyone gets equal opportunities.
Clearly, there are also cultural issues as well that firms need to address. Firms are becoming more alive to the prevalence of micro-aggressions – the seemingly small words and deeds that can lead those in minority and marginalised groups (or frankly anyone feeling vulnerable or insecure in the workplace) to feel inferior or excluded. Firms with genuine intentions to make progress on diversity can no longer afford to ignore such issues.
