Osborne · Law Practice
Bound law reports in the Osborne Law Practice library

Practice areas

Six disciplines. One bench.

Most commercial problems refuse to stay inside one practice area. Ours are staffed together from the first meeting, so a recovery question with a tax consequence and an insolvency risk is answered once — not three times, three ways.

01

Capital Markets

02

Litigation & Advocacy

03

Insolvency & Restructuring

How we are organised

Disciplines that share a file, not a floor.

The practice is deliberately compact. Each discipline is led by a partner who argues the matters personally, and every mandate is reviewed across the bench before a strategy is fixed. That review is where most of the value sits: the tax lawyer sees the enforcement risk, the insolvency lawyer sees the security defect, and the advocate sees which of them a court will actually care about.

We act for banks and funds, listed and private corporates, regulators and public bodies, and private clients in criminal, forfeiture and appellate matters — from Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, and in courts and tribunals nationwide.

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National offices
Brass scales on a partner's desk

The disciplines

What we are instructed to do.

Each practice below lists the work we take on most often. If your matter sits between two of them, that is usually a reason to call rather than a complication.

Capital Markets at Osborne Law Practice
01

Capital Markets

Issuance, listing and market regulation work for issuers, sponsors and institutional investors.

We advise on public offers, private placements, bond and commercial paper programmes, and the continuing obligations that follow a listing. Where a transaction attracts regulatory attention, the same team defends it before the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Investments and Securities Tribunal.

  • Public offers, rights issues and private placements
  • Debt programmes, bonds and commercial paper
  • Listing and continuing disclosure obligations
  • SEC and NGX regulatory engagement
  • Investments and Securities Tribunal representation
Explore capital markets
Litigation & Advocacy at Osborne Law Practice
02

Litigation & Advocacy

Trial and appellate advocacy in commercial, constitutional and criminal matters.

Our advocacy practice is the spine of the firm. We appear in the Federal and State High Courts, the National Industrial Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and we take over part-heard matters where a case needs re-theorising rather than re-filing.

  • Commercial and shareholder disputes
  • Banking, recovery and enforcement proceedings
  • Criminal defence and asset forfeiture
  • Judicial review and constitutional claims
  • Appeals to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court
Explore litigation & advocacy
Insolvency & Restructuring at Osborne Law Practice
03

Insolvency & Restructuring

Receivership, turnaround and recovery mandates for banks, funds and corporates.

Under CAMA 2020 the options open to a secured creditor are wider and the traps are sharper. We act for receivers, debenture holders, distressed borrowers and purchasers of loan books, moving between negotiation, restructuring and enforcement as the numbers require.

  • Receivership and administration appointments
  • Company voluntary arrangements and schemes
  • Debt recovery and security enforcement
  • Loan book acquisition and warehousing
  • Directors' duties and insolvency litigation
Explore insolvency & restructuring
Taxation at Osborne Law Practice
04

Taxation

Assessment disputes, reviews and negotiated settlements with federal and state authorities.

We contest assessments that other advisers recommend settling. The practice combines technical tax analysis with tribunal advocacy, from the objection letter through the Tax Appeal Tribunal and onwards on appeal, and advises on structuring before an exposure ever arises.

  • FIRS and state revenue assessment disputes
  • Tax Appeal Tribunal advocacy and appeals
  • Transaction and group structuring reviews
  • Transfer pricing and withholding questions
  • Voluntary disclosure and settlement negotiation
Explore taxation
Arbitration & ADR at Osborne Law Practice
05

Arbitration & ADR

Institutional and ad hoc arbitration, mediation and expert determination, seated at home and abroad.

Construction, energy and joint-venture disputes rarely belong in open court. We draft and stress-test dispute clauses, run arbitrations under ICC, LCIA, LCA and UNCITRAL rules, and handle the enforcement or challenge of awards before the Nigerian courts.

  • Dispute resolution clause drafting and review
  • Institutional and ad hoc arbitral proceedings
  • Emergency and interim relief applications
  • Mediation and expert determination
  • Recognition, enforcement and set-aside of awards
Explore arbitration & adr
Corporate Advisory & Notarial at Osborne Law Practice
06

Corporate Advisory & Notarial

Day-to-day counsel, company secretarial services, perfection of interests and notarial acts.

A retainer with the practice gives a board direct access to senior counsel for the questions that arrive without warning. We maintain statutory records, perfect security and proprietary interests, register intellectual property, and provide notarial services for documents intended for use abroad.

  • Company secretarial and statutory compliance
  • Perfection of security and title documents
  • Commercial contracts and joint ventures
  • Trademark, patent and copyright registration
  • Notarial attestation and authentication
Explore corporate advisory & notarial

How a mandate runs

The same four steps, whichever discipline you need.

01

Confidential intake

A partner reviews every enquiry personally, establishes conflicts clearance and agrees the scope of the retainer in writing.

02

Case theory

We build the theory of the matter before we build the file — the facts, the forum, the exposure and the realistic range of outcomes.

03

Strategy & staffing

Cross-disciplinary teams are assembled from day one so tax, insolvency and litigation questions are answered together, not sequentially.

04

Execution & reporting

Structured reporting after every hearing or milestone, with commercial recommendations rather than a recital of procedure.

Case papers being marked up before a hearing

Selected record

Where these disciplines have been tested.

Nestlé Nigeria Plc v. Federal Inland Revenue Service

Tax Appeal Tribunal

Assessment set aside

Dismass Alu Adoon v. Federal Republic of Nigeria

Court of Appeal

Conviction quashed

Aerobell Nigeria Ltd v. Fidelity Bank Plc

Federal High Court

Judgment for client

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc v. Obosi Microfinance Bank Ltd

High Court of Lagos State

Recovery enforced

Thomas v. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

Federal High Court

Forfeiture discharged

Sectors

Banking & FinanceEnergy & Natural ResourcesTelecommunicationsReal Estate & ConstructionManufacturing & FMCGPublic Sector & RegulatorsMaritime & LogisticsTechnology & Fintech
A courtroom before proceedings begin

Working with us

Terms agreed before the first hour is billed.

Tell us the discipline, the forum and the deadline. A partner reviews every enquiry personally and responds within one business day.

Fixed fee

Defined, one-off mandates with a clear deliverable and timetable.

Retainer

Standing access to senior counsel for boards and in-house teams.

Hourly

Complex disputes where scope cannot honestly be fixed at the outset.

Success-linked

Recovery and enforcement work, agreed in writing before filing.