Jackson, Etti & Edu

The firm

Jackson, Etti & Edu is one of Nigeria’s leading law firms, and has been providing legal services and advice for over a decade to a broad spectrum of local and international clients on diverse corporate and commercial matters.

The firm began from a merger of two highly reputable law firms, Norma Jackson-Steele & Co and Etti, Edu & Co. It started as a medium-sized law firm, and has emerged as one of the leading firms in the country today, with a total staff strength of 100, including 45 lawyers and three consultants, one of whom assists the firm with government-related issues.

Areas of practice

Commercial litigation: the firm manages the litigation portfolios of leading multinational corporations in sectors such as construction, oil and gas services, real estate, agro-allied, etc. The firm’s expertise covers a wide range of cases, including complex high-profile cases in courts of law, commissions of inquiry and other quasi-judicial bodies.

Immigration: the firm’s immigration practice covers all aspects of inbound and outbound corporate immigration and is structured to manage the entire immigration portfolio of multinational companies, providing each with bespoke services and comprehensive assistance on regulatory compliance.

Energy and infrastructure: the firm is not only conversant with prevailing issues in the Nigerian energy industry but is also at the forefront of providing expert legal advice to all players in the energy value chain. It has advised independent exploration and production companies, oil service companies, wholesale gas distributors and lenders among others.

Labour and employment: the firm’s experience in this area includes advising on compliance with labour, employment and compensation legislation and the preparation/review of contracts of employment, collective bargaining agreements and employee handbooks.

Tax: the tax practice routinely advises on tax issues and assists clients in petroleum profit tax, personal income tax liabilities of resident and non- resident employees, value-added tax and withholding tax.

Real estate: the firm’s real estate practice represents several property development companies, including an international property development company and the oldest state property development company in Nigeria. The practice has advised on the development of hotels, office blocks, mixed-use development projects and has been responsible for co-ordinating major development and construction projects.

Private equity: the firm advises leading pan-African private equity fund managers and other Africa-focused private equity fund managers in their investments in Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region.

Mergers and acquisitions: the firm advises on big-ticket mergers and acquisitions within Nigeria and the west Africa sub-region. Its experience in Nigeria cuts across the different sectors of the Nigerian economy including manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, agro-allied, banking, insurance, retail, advertising, oil and gas, information and communication technology, entertainment, telecommunications and real estate.

Banking and finance services: the firm’s specialist banking and finance team has, over the years, developed expertise in delivering bespoke commercially innovative solutions to its broad range of clients including financial institutions, FMCG conglomerates, oil and gas companies and other blue-chip companies.

Intellectual property rights protection and litigation: the practice has instituted and prosecuted several IP rights protection and enforcement cases for blue-chip companies, and has obtained Anton Pillar orders of search and seizure with which it hit infringers ‘below the belt’ and constrained them to the negotiation table thereby saving the clients the time, labour and money.

Commercial arbitration: the team acts as counsel to clients, as well as presiding over disputes as arbitrations. It has fellows and members in the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a pioneer member of the klkPanel of NeutraIs of the Lagos Multi-Door Court House who preside over disputes as an arbitrator.