According to Achadu David Attah, chief legal advisor and company secretary of Taleveras Group, the biggest challenge faced by in-house teams in Nigeria is ‘the external solicitor conundrum’, namely, ‘the cliché that only external solicitors are skilled to advise effectively on legal issues without the appreciation of the proficiency of the unique skills of the in-house lawyer’.

Attah and his team have overcome this by perception internally by cultivating strong ties with the company’s CEO and engaging in critical strategic discussions to help steer the company through a difficult period. Founded in 2004 by Nigerian entrepreneur Igho Sanomi, Taleveras Group has become a strong regional player in energy, power and construction services and has established an international presence in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. However, with its core business in the struggling oil and gas sector and with Nigeria plagued by recession, the company has to develop creative ways to remain competitive.

Taleveras Group’s legal team has played a big role in helping the company to diversify its business over the past two years, advising on new strategic directions and ensuring that the necessary legal support is in place to help the company grow into new markets. Attah leads a team of three lawyers, each of whom is recognised as having made a distinctive and hugely important contribution to the company.

As a unit, the legal team has helped Taleveras Group to operate across a number of jurisdictions, bridging the differences in legal systems and helping to streamline the activities of the various companies within the group. The team has also developed a standard checklist to guide contract review and ensure all documents mitigate the risks to the company as much as possible.

Additionally, the team has acted as close advisors on some of the company’s most significant matters, including the acquisition of a power generation facility from Nigeria’s national power company, the acquisition of a steel company in Southern Africa, joint venture agreements involving upstream assets in Nigeria and Ivory Coast, and a mediation in the United Kingdom.