WIGWE & PARTNERS

Commercial: Our expertise in this aspect of law and business is quite notable and covers a broad spectrum of practice areas. We guide our Client through diverse transactions, ensuring that their business objectives are achieved and business interests are protected.

The Firm’s commercial practice proficiency include: Transaction Structuring, drafting/review of Agency Agreements, Commercial Audit, Commercial Disputes, Franchising Agreements, Memorandum of Understanding, Service Level Agreements, Joint Venture Agreements, Mergers and Acquisitions, Intellectual Property, Data Protection, IT law, Licensing Agreements, Partnership Agreements and Exclusivity Agreements et al.

Corporate: This aspect of law deals with companies and business corporations. To ensure that the practice of corporate law is carried out with utmost diligence and professionalism, there are regulatory authorities that govern the various responsibilities in ensuring that this is achieved. The Firm has a well-established network of experts to advise and deliver top-notch service in corporate advisory, which includes but not limited to business formation, proffering advisory services to new businesses and providing corporate maintenance in order to preserve the limited liability aspects of the corporate form. Our Corporate Services include: Mergers & acquisitions, Company disposals, Private equity, Capital markets, Regulatory Services, Corporate governance, Constitution of companies, Corporate recovery, Joint ventures, Limited Liability partnerships, Partnership & shareholders disputes, Partnership agreements, Shareholders agreements, Business formations start-ups, Corporate structures & reorganization.

Basically, property law practice in Nigeria focuses on laws applicable to tangible or real property: land, anything attached to land, or any interest in land, land of any tenure, tenements, hereditaments, corporal or incorporeal and individual shares in lands.

W&P has the required resources and project experience to deliver portfolio acquisition and disposals on time and in budget. Our dedicated team of experienced staff is committed to providing comprehensive and high-quality services in the following property and real estate related transactions:

1. Property conveyance
2. Obtaining Land Use Rights through allocation and grant of Statutory and Customary Rights of Occupancy
3. Purchase and sale of leasehold and freehold property interest
4. Drafting of all known documentation relating to land and real property
5. Lease extensions, Transfer of Equity, Property finance, conducting due diligence on land purchases and transactions
6. Perfection of title and mortgages

There are several lawful procedures/options available for recovery of debts in Nigeria, which may be adopted by an individual or corporate organization; likewise, legislative frameworks in Nigeria have made express provisions for formal restructuring and insolvency proceedings in the form of takeovers, mergers & acquisitions, bankruptcy or winding-up proceedings.

W&P has a team of seasoned lawyers with expertise in providing legal advisory, litigation and ADR services on all aspects of Debt Recovery and Insolvency Practices. We are also very proficient in fashioning effective measures of recovering non-performing loans to the advantage of our corporate clients and where necessary, initiating Winding up proceedings against the borrowing companies where viable and instituting legal action against the companies to enforce guarantees where applicable.

W&P offers diverse services in employment matters. The Firm works closely with its Clients to assist in adapting to new developments in Employments Law and practice in a bid to enable the clients have a formidable internal union and policies as it concerns the employer and employee(s).

The Firm provides speedy solutions to any form of contentious and non-contentious matters that arise in the workplace. We provide assistance in drafting and reviewing HR Policies, Collective Bargaining Agreements, Contract of Services, Employment Agreements and Corporate Governance Policies that promote a binding guideline for office operations and practice.

Family law is concerned with the law regulating the affairs of the basic unit of co-existence, the family. The concept of the Nigerian family law was adopted from the English legal system and the Traditional/customary practices that may uphold. Matters on adoption, peaceful co-existence, guardianship, ward maintenance and inheritance are managed within the scope of family law and practice.

The Firm’s Family law team has a proven track record in successfully advising and representing clients on a wide range of sensitive family law issues. These include:

1. Civil partnerships & dissolution
2. Divorce & separation agreements
3. Domestic violence & injunctions
4. Family property & inheritance disputes
5. Adoption & Guardianship
6. Child Rights’
7. Financial disputes following relationship breakdown
8. Property disputes following relationship breakdown

Intellectual Property (IP) Law focuses on the study of legal rights to tangible and intangible assets, creations and products of the mind, crafts and concepts. Intellectual Property encompasses four (4) primary sub-fields: trade secrets, patents, copyrights and trademarks. In each of these areas, the goal of an IP lawyer is to help clients protect their new or novel ideas and implement products and services in a way that such ideas, concepts, drawings et cetera; do not operate contrary to IP laws and practice and the reward for such inventions are not lost due to the IP owned by others.

Our practice area under this service entails the following:

1. Investigation of ownership of the intellectual property rights
2. Drafting, reviewing, revising all legal documents relating to the transfer and licensing of trademark, copyright, patent and know-how
3. Participating in the negotiation of technology development, service and project transfer; Acting as agents in international trademark and patent registration
4. Providing services in the protection of software and trade secrets
5. Adoption & Guardianship
6. Drafting, reviewing and revising all business and legal documents relating to Intellectual Property Rights; and
7. Financial disputes following relationship breakdown
8. Representing clients in litigation and arbitration as a result of the infringement of intellectual property rights

At W&P, we pose of a rich Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution team that helps businesses avoid or resolve disputes efficiently and effectively around the world. We offer clients tailored services which harmonizes with their need and for the specific transaction or dispute they are dealing with. Our lawyers assist clients in navigating conflicts at every stage in a cost effective and efficient manner. The Firm’s litigation/arbitration practice areas include:

1. Civil disputes, - Debt recovery on behalf of private persons, banks, and financial institutions, corporate insolvency procedures [company liquidation, receivership & winding-up]
2. Contractual claims
3. Intellectual Property Rights protection, including passing-off actions, trademark infringement, copyrights and patents
4. Torts, including personal property injuries and product liability cases
5. Labor and industrial relations including master-servant disputes, pension contribution issues, safety and environmental protection at work places etc
6. Disputes involving carriage of goods, licensing, agency, franchising and import/export trade
7. Administrative actions [mandamus, certiorari and prohibition proceedings]; Criminal defense and prosecution; and
8. Other related litigation and arbitration matters