Biography: Arbitration

Dorothy Ufot is the founding partner of Dorothy Ufot & Co, a leading law firm in Nigeria since 1994, where she heads the international arbitration and litigation departments of the firm.

Dorothy has been in active legal practice since being called to the Nigerian Bar in 1989, and practised in the chambers of Mr H A Lardner, SAN, before setting up Dorothy Ufot & Co.

Dorothy is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK, and a chartered arbitrator. She is a former vice chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association and a former member of the Council of the Legal Practice Division of the IBA.

Dorothy has over 22 years of experience in commercial litigation specialising in banking and finance, oil and gas, securities transactions, construction contracts, admiralty and shipping, investments, divestments and business crimes cases at both the trial and appellate court levels.

Dorothy is currently acting as Counsel in very important, highly contentious and complex high volume cases relating to the recent takeover of certain Nigerian Banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria and is also currently acting for some banks and certain shareholders in respect of disputes relating to huge shares purchased during the initial public offers of some Nigerian Banks.

She is also often appointed as Counsel by regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) in litigations involving these agencies.

Dorothy was elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), which is the equivalent of the English Queen's Counsel in April, 2010, in recognition of her vast work in commercial litigation. Dorothy's advocacy skills are complemented by her work in international commercial arbitration, an area of practice in which she is internationally recognised.

Dorothy is currently a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, as well as the ICC Commission on Arbitration. She has extensive experience as arbitrator in ad hoc and institutional arbitration (ICC, SCC and UNCITRAL).

Dorothy has acted as an arbitrator in several complex high-volume arbitrations in oil and gas, International construction projects, joint ventures, international supply contracts, infrastructure development, telecommunications and financial services. She has been appointed as an arbitrator by major multinational oil corporations, the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, state governments, federal government agencies and large and medium-sized public and private companies in arbitrations taking place in Africa and Europe.

Among her recent appointments as an arbitrator are the appointments by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in respect of a multi-million dollar dispute involving production sharing contracts between the NNPC and the subsidiary of a multinational Oil Corporation, as well as her appointment by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in respect of a road construction contract between two African parties. She was also recently appointed as a sole arbitrator in a building construction dispute involving the refurbishment of a huge estate in Nigeria, among many other arbitration appointments.

A member of the advisory board of the Journal of International Arbitration, Dorothy is an approved tutor at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is a regular speaker on oil and gas, international arbitration, professional ethics and dispute resolution generally at several international and local conferences particularly the IBA, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Institute of Transnational Arbitration, Houston, Texas and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.

Dorothy is an executive member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Nigeria branch and an executive member and the treasurer of the International Chamber of Commerce, Nigerian national committee (ICCN).

Dorothy is on the executive board of Arbitral Women with headquarters in Paris. She is also a member of the London Court of International Arbitration as well as several other professional associations. She is on the panels of arbitrators of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) and the Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, Lagos. She holds a BSc degree in political science from the University of Calabar, Nigeria and obtained her law degree and a Master's degree in Law from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She is an alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School.

Dorothy is a former non-executive director of Chevron Oil Nigeria Plc (now MRS Oil Nigeria Plc). She was recently appointed as a member of the governing council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) where she chairs the Rules and Adjudication Committee of the Exchange. She is very fluent in English.

Biography: Commercial Litigation

Dorothy Ufot is the founding partner of Dorothy Ufot & Co, a leading law firm in Nigeria since 1994, where she heads the international arbitration and litigation departments of the firm. Dorothy has been in active legal practice since her call to the Nigerian Bar in 1989, and practised in the chambers of Mr H A Lardner, SAN before setting up Dorothy Ufot & Co.

Dorothy is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK, and a chartered arbitrator. She is a former member of the council of the legal practice division of the International Bar Association and a former vice-chair of the arbitration committee of the IBA. Dorothy has 22 years experience in commercial litigation specialising in banking and finance, oil and gas, securities transactions, construction contracts, admiralty and shipping, investments, divestments and business crime cases at both trial and appellate court levels.

Dorothy has conducted very important, highly contentious and complex high-volume capital market cases for several Nigerian Banks, notable among which is the on-going case involving the fraudulent sale of large quantities of Nestle Nigeria Plc and Unilever Nigeria Plc shares by certain capital market operators as well as litigations concerning the IPOs of certain Nigerian Financial Institutions.

She has also acts as counsel for regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigeria Insurance Deposit Corporation (NDIC).

Dorothy was recently conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in 2010, in recognition of her vast work in commercial litigation. The rank of SAN is the equivalent of the English Queen's Counsel.

Dorothy's advocacy skills are complemented by her work in international commercial arbitration, an area of practice in which she is internationally recognised.

Dorothy is a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris as well as the ICC Commission on Arbitration. She has extensive experience as arbitrator in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations (ICC, SCC and UNCITRAL).

Dorothy has acted as arbitrator in several complex high-volume arbitrations in oil and gas, construction, joint venture, international supply contracts, infrastructure development, telecommunications and financial services, having been appointed as an arbitrator by major multinational oil corporations, the Nigerian National, Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, state governments, federal government agencies and large and medium sized public and private companies in arbitrations taking place in Africa and Europe.

A member of the advisory board of the Journal of International Arbitration, Dorothy is an approved tutor at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has presented papers on oil and gas, arbitration, professional ethics and dispute resolution generally at several international and local conferences particularly the IBA, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Institute of Transnational Arbitration, Houston, Texas and the Nigerian Economic Summit group.

Dorothy is a member of the executive of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Nigeria branch and she is an executive member and treasurer of the ICC Nigerian National Committee.

Dorothy is a member of the Swiss Arbitration Association and several other professional associations. She is on the panel of arbitrators of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) in Dublin and the Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, Lagos. She holds a BSc degree in Political Science from the University of Calabar, Nigeria, and obtained her law degree and a Masters Degree in Law from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and was called to the Nigerian bar in 1989.

Dorothy was recently appointed as a member of the council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and she is a former director of Chevron Oil Nigeria Plc.

She is an alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School and she is fluent in English.