Practices

Whether in creative and innovative markets or market-creating opportunities, we deliver Our Best Value to our clients across our practice areas. Our Best Value: customized legal and business solutions delivered in a personalized and dedicated manner rides on ethical, competent work and continual improvement.

We rely on technology in producing our professional work astride corporate law, commercial transactions, and disputes, including litigation, employment, financial technology law, government advocacy, private equity, educational law, transportation law, construction, real estate, and real estate due diligence, and investigations.

Or in our unique solutions that include D Bar Escrow Services and Real Estate Due Diligence.

Dispute & Litigation and Arbitration

At SRJ, we combine commercial litigation appetite with a widening experience to prioritize your interests. From straightforward claims to contentious and hard-fought disputes or litigation, we combine our resources to take control of your business or personal plan to achieve the objectives. In the face of Nigeria’s judicial process, Our Strength compensates.

At SRJ, we understand that litigation is like hunting a wild African rabbit. Our members act like a band of hunters of African wild rabbits, and we are competent to man its many exit holes.

Our members are qualified to appear in any court or tribunal or hearing in Nigeria. We can take on any commercial disputes or litigation and successfully resolve them.

We act as counsel or arbitrators in arbitration matters or mediators in any other alternate dispute resolutions. Our practice is a full range of dispute resolution complements our commercial dispute practice. Our style is to personalize our dedicated services to our clients and to deliver to you Our Best Value. We leverage technology as far as is permitted within Nigeria.

Corporate and commercial transactions

Corporate/commercial transactions are the core of our practice and flow into other practices. As a commercial law firm in the West-African commercial hub, Lagos, we are comfortable and clear-headed in a deal room.

Deals may be complex commercial transactions or simple contract arrangements. That includes international and cross-border transactions, structuring or reorganizing a FinTech company to be tax-efficient and funders-friendly.

Our commercial transaction practice involves regulatory, compliance, and transactional matters for FinTech, educational institutions, Agribusiness, transportation, insurance, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), private equity, entertainment and media, digital banking and banking, financial institutions, product liabilities, project financing, occupational hazard, defamation, real estate, and debt recovery, or due diligence.

We deliver Our Best Value – because we are your business partners.

Education Law

SRJ is among the 1^st law in Nigeria to establish a legal team dedicated to the Nigerian education sector. We have consistently advised and acted for a globally ranked Nigerian business school.

We are an outsourced legal department for our educational institution clients. Our members relieve you of the burden of having a legal department and where you already do, we help you keep your legal department thin and agile.

Our education practice provides legal representation to a range of clients from leading business schools to private elementary schools such as public or private universities, business schools, TVETs (technical vocational education training), secondary schools, primary schools, accrediting agencies, museums & art galleries, foundations and Edutech (education technology) companies.

Our education practice is a growing suite of employment, data protection, commercial transactions, investigations, intellectual property and digital rights, finance & funding, regulatory & compliance, licencing & approvals, sexual discrimination and harassment, education technology, mergers and take-over.

Governments Advocacy

We represent our clients before federal or state or local governments and before ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) that include the Central bank of Nigeria. We mindfully guide our clients through complex or straightforward issues of an executive or regulatory nature that affect their business or persons.

Our government’s advocacy practices include advisory on legislative hearings and interest groups’ contributions to legislative hearings. The government’s advocacy is not specific to any legislative process or industry-specific.

We assist in any area of ministries, departments, governments, and agencies or legislative work or judicial inquiries that may affect your business or personal interest. Our government advocacy practice covers lobbying, a framework for passing or defeating any legislative bill or legislation.

Employment

We differentiate ourselves by being relational with our clients and proactive in the type of legal or business solutions we offer – without meddling with the HR team.

Our employment work includes dispute resolution and litigation. We assist you during internal or external investigations, disciplinary hearings, documentation, reviews, and advisory and pro bono work for low-income employees who suffered workplace injuries.

We are positioned to partner with you on all areas of people management, including senior executive appointments or departures, expatriate employment, trade union issues, sexual harassment, and other forms of discrimination, redundancy and restructuring issues.

Internal and regulatory investigations

At SRJ, we guide our clients through any internal or regulatory investigations, whether contentious or straightforward or sensitive. These may include disciplinary hearings, regulator’s invitation or summons, petition, fact-finding or inquiries, data protection investigations, enforcement actions, and legislative committee hearings across any business sector. We know how to work with you to engage with the regulators to achieve a fair outcome. We understand how Nigerian regulators think because we represent our clients before regulators and work closely with them.

Insolvency and business recovery

Necessary organizational changes, near economic uncertainties, or political instability result in distressed business situations requiring debt restructuring or insolvency measures. Acting timely may ensure fruitful, positive outcomes.

Any affected parties, including professionals, have to act calmly, clearly, and in a commercial sense.

Our member is a qualified business recovery and insolvency practitioner under Nigeria’s Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020. No matter where you are, we can lend a hand.

Financial technology

We understand legislative and regulatory matters in the financial technology (FinTech) space. We provide our Best value while ensuring your long-term business and legal needs with growing industry knowledge. We act for clients in auditing FinTech software and application to ensure compliance with regulatory demands to reduce our clients’ exposure and liabilities.

We help you to organize your FinTech in funders or investors-friendly manner. Managing the FinTech includes choosing where a FinTech registers its parent company and tax-efficient structuring models.

No matter where you are, we want to be involved. Fundraising is nearly a full-time business. We structure and negotiate term sheets. Whether for seed investment or primary or secondary investments, or a combination

Estate planning Trust and probate

At SRJ, we assist clients to reach their wealth planning objectives through wealth transfer arrangements. We provide advice and act for our clients on Will, letters of administration or probate, gift and related transactions and tax matters; using life insurance as a planning tool; business succession planning; asset protection; wealth transfer; charitable organizations and private foundations. Our practice includes representations in probate litigation without neglecting the possibilities of negotiation, and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

Our Trust practice include acting as nominee shareholders for our corporate or individual clients. Given the need to keep your workforce clearly motivated and your competing financial needs, we regularly design employee share options or schemes and hold such share options on trust for our clients or our client’s employee (the beneficiaries).

Real estate and infrastructure

Our real estate and infrastructure cover asset management, buying, selling, and leasing of property, construction and engineering, development and investment financing, environmental issues, joint ventures, construction or reconstruction licenses and permits, property disputes as well as assisting clients in construction engineering and procurement bidding processes with governments and arising contract documentations.

Learn more about our real estate due diligence here

Company representations

Nigeria has a hugely growing online market. We can represent companies registered outside Nigeria that offer online services to Nigerians under Nigerian laws as their local company representative or agent.

We are representatives in commercial transactions that include payment service providers’ matters and any other ad hoc arrangements that allow you to gain a market foothold.

Given our member’s background in company secretarial work, we are qualified to act as alternate directors, whether on short or relatively long notice, regarding board matters.