Asamah Kadiri, SAN

Yusuf Asamah Kadiri is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a Partner in Jackson, Etti & Edu. He heads the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group of the Firm. He also oversees the firm’s Public Sector Group.

He holds an LL.B Law degree from the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria; a BL (Barrister-at-Law) Practice Certificate from the Nigerian Law School, Council of Legal Education; an LL.M in International Business Law from the Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America; an advanced Practice Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration (DipICArb) jointly from Kebble College, Oxford University, United Kingdom and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom; coupled with several other professional qualifications, including, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), United Kingdom; Accredited Mediator of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), United Kingdom; Fellow of the Business Rescue and Insolvency Practitioners’ Association of Nigeria (BRIPAN); amongst others.

Asamah is a consummate Commercial Lawyer with extensive experience and expertise in diverse aspects of civil and commercial litigation, commercial arbitration, mediation and conciliation, adjudication, negotiation, regulatory and compliance, insolvency and corporate rescue, mergers and acquisitions, international trade and investment, amongst others. He has acted as Lead Counsel in several high-profile litigation matters cutting across all spheres of the Nigerian Courts and systems of justice administration, including States and Federal Courts of First Instance and Appellate Courts. He also has vast experience and skills in representing parties at Statutory Regulatory Bodies, Quasi-Judicial Tribunals, Executive and Administrative Investigative Panels, Legislative Investigative Panels, Judicial Commissions of Inquiry, etc.

Asamah is also a practicing Arbitrator and Mediator. His practice in the field of Arbitration and Mediation includes providing legal representation as Counsel to disputing parties in Arbitration proceedings and Mediation sessions, as well as sitting as an Arbitrator or Co-Arbitrator over arbitral proceedings, and as a Mediator or Co-Mediator in mediation sessions. His vast experience in Arbitration and ADR cuts across domestic and international arbitration as well as ad-hoc and institutional arbitration. He has extensive experience utilizing the ADR techniques of Negotiation and Mediation in resolving commercial disputes involving clients to minimize the risk of future litigation. He has acted for several international and local high-profile corporate clientele operating in diverse sectors of the economy, including the Construction and Infrastructure, Real Estate, Energy and Power, Petrochemicals and Oil Services, Automobiles, Financial Services, Health and Pharmaceuticals, Agro-allied, Industrial Electrical and Electronics, Information Technology, Automation Solutions, Telecommunications, Aviation, Shipping, and Fast-Moving-Consumer-Goods (FMCG) sectors of the economy, amongst others.

Asamah is a member of several professional bodies and associations, and institutions. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (in which he has been consecutively appointed as a co-opted member of the National Executive Committee by successive administrations since 2014 to date); Chairman of the Arbitration & ADR Committee of the Section on Business Law of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA-SBL); member of the International Bar Association; member of the Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria (in which he is a member of the Council) and INSOL International (International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Professionals); member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (United Kingdom and Nigeria); member of CEDR Solve (Network of International Mediators); member of the Association of CEDR (UK) Accredited Mediators of Nigeria; member of the Institute of Energy Law (a division of the Centre for American & International Law); member of the Association for International Arbitration; member of Comite Maritime Internationale; member of Nigerian Maritime Law Association;  a pioneer member of the Panel of Neutrals of the Lagos Multi-Door Court House, the ADR Centre of the Lagos High Court; a Capital Market Consultant accredited by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); amongst others.

Asamah has received several recognitions and rankings worldwide. In recognition of his contribution to the development of the law and the legal profession, he was elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in the year 2020, the highest rank of distinction in the Nigeria legal profession and the Nigerian equivalent of the British Queen’s Counsel (QC). He has also been ranked by Chambers & Partners Global Legal Review as a leading Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Lawyer in Nigeria, consecutively for over 10 years since 2011 till date. He has also been recognized by Legal 500 as a “leading Commercial Litigation Lawyer” and ranked by CorporateINTL as a “leading Insolvency Lawyer” in Nigeria.