NBA Lagos Law Week: Rain Making and Management of Customer
The third session of the day, on ‘Rain Making and Management of Customer Expectations,’ was moderated by the former chairman of the NBA’s Section on Business Law (SBL) and founding partner of the commercial law firm of Banwo & Ighodalo, Asue Ighodalo, who was assisted by a stellar faculty of panelists such as Gbenga Oyebode, MFR, chairman of the law firm of Aluko & Oyebode; Segun Osuntokun, a managing partner at the UK law firm of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, as well as a pair of corporate rainmakers, namely, Mrs. Justina Lewa, company secretary and chief legal counsel of Sterling Bank; and Tobechukwu Okigbo, corporate relations executive at the telecoms giant, MTN.
In response to the moderator’s question as to the key attributes the in-house corporate rainmaker typically looks for when engaging an external counsel, both Lewa and Okigbo insisted that the following attributes were indispensable: empathy, pedigree and good reputation; gravitas; versatility across key competencies; and the ability to make the client look good.
The panelists also touched on the importance of coaching and mentoring, and the need for lawyers – especially young lawyers – to form deep, meaningful personal and professional relationships. Ighodalo and Oyebode, in particular, had the following advice to the young lawyer desirous of climbing the career ladder:
- Rainmaking (especially the networking aspect of it) is not a science – it is an art which anybody can master, however introverted they might be;
- Be intellectually arrogant sometimes. If you’re the best at what you do, clients cannot but deal with you on your own terms;
- don’t leave any place without making an impression;
- If you’re footloose and fancy-free (with no marital or family responsibilities to tie you down), work 24/7 if necessary.It will not kill you.
Talking about young lawyers and their preoccupations, the fourth and final session of the day was dedicated to a growing field of practice now attracting their attention in larger numbers than before: Entertainment, Sports & Media. Moderated by Ms. Ojonokah Agudah, an intellectual property lawyer with interests in football, music and image rights, the session featured the contributions of such pacesetters as Charles Adeogun-Philips, a former international prosecutor who currently a football intermediary; Mena Ajakpovi, a partner at the law firm of Udo Udoma & Bello-Osagie, with advisory interests in copyright, patents, trademarks, domain names, broadcasting, music/movie/comedy production, and franchising, etc.; and Prince Joel, managing partner at Prince Joel & Associates.
The panelists discussed, among other issues, opportunities for young lawyers in this dynamic and eclectic field; sourcing young talent; branding, and especially the vexed issue of piracy (which has grown more intractable in recent years with the advent of digital technology, which enables downloading, live-streaming and audio/video sharing, courtesy of WhatsApp and the like). In his assessment of the latter, Ajakpovi said frank in saying that eradicating piracy was an impossibility (as everybody is now a pirate to a greater or lesser extent), but creators of content covered by piracy laws could preempt pirates with a list of measures as to how they release their content into the market, and how they manage their exposure.
The 2019 Law Week of the Lagos branch of the NBA came to a close with a ‘White Party,’ at the City Hall venue of the conference, which featured, among other activities, a dance competition in which two sets of male lawyers and female lawyers contested for a prize, to the admiration of their respective supporters.
See photos below:
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