We are counsel to businesses, financiers, and public institutions operating in and around the Lekki Peninsula — Nigeria's busiest arc of new construction, port activity, and downstream investment.
Balogun & Okafor was founded by two lawyers who had spent the earlier part of their careers on the international side of Nigerian transactions — Kunle Balogun in disputes and shipping, Chioma Okafor in corporate finance and energy. Working from London and New York, they kept ending up on opposite sides of matters that turned, ultimately, on how well the Nigerian record had been prepared.
They came home and opened chambers on Admiralty Way in 2008, in a Lekki Phase 1 that was, at the time, a quieter address than it is today. The peninsula grew. The Deep Sea Port broke ground. The refinery followed. Governor's Consent applications piled up; then came the disputes. The firm grew with the coastline.
Today the firm employs 24 lawyers across disputes, corporate, regulatory, energy, maritime, and real estate, led by three equity partners and supported by a specialist team of paralegals, company-secretarial staff, and enforcement counsel. Two partners are Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
Every firm claims rigour and commercial judgement. These are the four we actually keep the file honest against.
Every opinion begins with the underlying documents, the correspondence, and the statute in its current form — not a summary of any of them. We flag when the record is thin, and we tell you before you're paying to fix it.
Contracts, licences, and settlement papers should read cleanly on the day they are signed and hold up on the day someone is arguing they don't. We draft the clauses that would win the dispute we hope you never have.
A partner is on every matter and reads every filing that leaves the office. We do not staff to consume budget; we staff to move the matter, and we tell you when a junior can lead a task as well as a partner would.
We assume any matter may end up in an affidavit or a press release, and we conduct ourselves — internally and with counterparties — as though it will. Sensitive engagements are staffed only on a need-to-know basis.
Three equity partners lead the firm, each with a substantive practice they still work in daily. Our senior associates carry equal weight on client relationships.
Disputes and maritime lead. Twenty-two years at the bar, elevated to Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2019. Represents ship-owners, charterers, and P&I clubs; appears regularly before the Federal High Court and in LMAA and ICC arbitrations. Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Corporate and energy lead. Practised at a New York firm for six years before returning to Lagos. Advises on M&A, capital markets, and cross-border project finance, with a particular focus on downstream petroleum, LNG, and power. Serves on the board of two Nigerian portfolio companies.
Regulatory and real estate lead. Elevated to Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2023. Advises financial institutions, telecoms operators, and developers on licensing, sector compliance, and land-tenure disputes. Frequently instructed on Governor's Consent and title-perfection matters across Lagos.
We hold the memberships that keep us close to the standards, and the conversations, our clients rely on.
We take an initial call without charge on most matters. If we are conflicted, or we think another firm is better suited, we say so and we say who.
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