Abayomi Okubote

Personal Bio

Job Title: Managing Partner - Pensbury Attorneys & Solictors

Areas of Expertise:

Recently described as a future leader in the Legal 500 Africa Arbitration Powerlist 2021, Abayomi is the Managing Partner of Pensbury Attorneys & Solicitors – a boutique arbitration firm in Abuja, Nigeria. Prior to this role, he was the Team Lead in charge of the International Arbitration Practice and Abuja Office of Olaniwun Ajayi LP – one of the top commercial law firms in Nigeria. His expertise spans the disparate yet connected fields of disputes and transaction advisory services. He has garnered over 12 years’ experience by representing multinational corporations in high-profile commercial disputes and has advised government agencies on several cutting-edge commercial projects in Africa. He has been involved, including as a counsel, in numerous ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, under the LCIA, ICC, HKIAC, UNCITRAL, CRCICA, CIArb and ICSID Rules. He has sat as an arbitrator in several domestic and international arbitrations. He is a member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre (LACIAC) Court of Arbitration and Panel Member of the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA).

Abayomi has won numerous international scholarships including the $40,000 scholarship by the Centre for International Governance Innovation, the International Bar Association Scholarship, and the H.R. Stuart Ryan Fellowship. He is a Tutor and Faculty Member at the CIArb Diploma in International Arbitration Programme. He recently led the team that drafted the widely celebrated Africa Arbitration Academy Protocol on Virtual Hearings in Africa - which has now been adopted by African Arbitral Institutions and African Governments.

Abayomi obtained his LLB from Olabisi Onabanjo University in Nigeria, LLM from the University College London, United Kingdom and PHD from Queen's University, Ontario, Canada. He has also completed programmes in different institutions including the Harvard Negotiation Programme at the Harvard Law School and the Paris Arbitration Academy.