Solola & Akpana

CORPORATE/COMMERCIAL

Successful business people know that they need more than just a good legal technician to help them achieve their objectives. They need lawyers and law firms who, individually and institutionally, have a commercial understanding of their legal issues and interests, which often can make the difference between an acceptable legal result and a great business success.

In addition to offering a complete range of corporate and commercial law services, Solola & Akpana’s Corporate/Commercial Practice Group includes seven focus areas of practice that are especially important to the success of our clients’ enterprises.

We draw upon expertise from each of these areas as needed to produce a coordinated and multi-perspective understanding of each client’s goals and expectations, with unsurpassed levels of cost-effectiveness that help our clients achieve a solid positive return on their investment in our services.

LABOUR/INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

People are one of the most important assets for all of our clients; but, as any business person knows, these assets need ongoing care and also sometimes imply serious legal risks.

We deliver commercially-aware and cost-effective advice and support through all stages in our clients’ experiences with their employees: from hiring, through workforce structuring and human resources management compliance, to the eventual end-of-employment relationship. We not only help our clients respond appropriately and efficiently to problems when they arise, we also help them spot and understand legal vulnerabilities and practical risks in their employment and human resources management policies and procedures.

Our leading services

• Employment contracts preparation, review and advisory
• Workforce integration and industrial relations in acquisitions and mergers
• Advice and legal risk management in innovative workforce structuring, such as outsourcing
• Proactive legal risk management advice in recruitment and personnel policies and procedures
• Application for CERPAC permits
• Employee injury claims and recovery
• Providing Work-from-Home (WFH) legal advisory and structure to human resource departments within organisations

Some instances of how we have helped our clients

• Successfully defended an indigenous oil exploration company against a wrongful dismissal claim by a former employee.
• Represented several oil services companies in settlement negotiations for compensation for workplace accidents.
• Regularly advise a human resources management consultancy company on legal and regulatory issues in recruiting, termination of employees, taxation, and compliance.
• Regularly assist our clients in obtaining expatriate quotas from the Ministry of Interior, and in renewing residency permits.
• Successfully defended our clients in several workplace sexual harassment lawsuits.
• Advised a Nigerian Oil Company on employee injury claims procedure under the relevant Nigerian laws.
• Advised a Cleantech company on the HSSE minimum requirements for employee safety under an offshore oil and gas project.
• In light of the COVID-19 restrictions, advised an international oil company on the suitable WFH structure to ensure employee privacy, fair labour practices and compliance with labour laws such as primary place of work, allowances for outpost work, per diem payments for overtime and related matters.
• Advised a multinational company on payment of hazard allowances to workers in the oil and gas sector.
• Advised a National Gas Company on employee unionization of contract workers, casualization, collective bargaining agreements and sundry labour matters.
• Continue to provide support in employment settlement and negotiation claims against our clients.

LITIGATION/ARBITRATION

Disputes are an unhappy facet of business life. Even when you win, they can be costly, time-consuming, and distracting from your business objectives and daily operations.

Our goal is to reduce these burdens by assembling a team of legal experts and skilled advocates who understand each client’s interests - not only in the dispute but beyond it - and are committed to obtaining the best possible results, whether by alternative dispute resolution methods, formal arbitration, or, if necessary, full litigation.

Our leading services

• Representation in trial and appellate courts and tribunals throughout Nigeria
• Representation in both domestic and international arbitration
• A team of legal experts and skilled litigators assembled to fit with each client’s industry or business sector and the nature of the issues at stake
• Proactive dispute resolution management to anticipate and, when possible, avoid unnecessary delays or procedural complications
• A “litigator’s perspective” to support our advice about non-contentious matters, by pointing out the possible obstacles and pitfalls and helping our clients design dispute-avoidance strategies

Some instances of how we have helped our clients

• Successfully defended a major UK-based law firm, and two of its partners in multiple suits against them in Nigeria.
• Successfully defended a multinational oil company in a suit filed by members of a host community, regarding royalties and rental payments allegedly owed them from our client’s oil exploration.
• Successfully secured the dismissal of a winding-up petition against a leading indigenous oil company.
• Successfully secured dismissal of several suits against our clients - major international oil companies, by their host communities.
• Successfully defended several major oil companies in multiple lawsuits for claims arising from oil spills in various communities in the Niger Delta region.
• Successfully defended several clients operating in different sectors of the economy against wrongful dismissal/termination claims by former employees.
• Successfully prosecuted and/or defended corporate and individual clients in suits bordering on complex contract disputes, libel and torts, at both trial and appellate courts.