Chief Rotimi Williams' Chambers: Nigeria

Chief Rotimi Williams’ Chambers (CRWC) was founded in Lagos, Nigeria in 1943 by Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams QC, SAN. (1920 – 2005), Chief Rotimi Williams’ Chambers – a full service law firm – with vast experience and exceptional focus in understanding its client’s needs to ensure their realisation. The firm is able to call upon an unparalleled depth of institutional knowledge acquired over the years. Its formidable experience as well as its commitment to information-gathering and communication technology makes it one of Nigeria’s top tier law firms.

CRWC is the Nigerian member of Terralex, a worldwide legal network of over 160 top law firms in over 100 countries around the globe, and carries on agency assignments on behalf of fellow firms from foreign jurisdictions.

CLIENT-DRIVEN

Our firm has acted for and continues to act for a diverse range of international clientele, including multinational oil corporations, manufacturing companies, telecommunications companies, pharmaceutical companies, information and communication technology companies, financial corporations and foreign governments. Counsel in chambers also provide pro bono services.

Our founder believed that a legal practitioner ought to have the wherewithal to tackle any kind of legal matter on behalf of a client no matter the area of the law involved. This thinking continues to lie at the heart of our approach to law practice and inform our modus operandi.

Chief Rotimi Williams’ Chambers (CRWC) is client-focused rather than subject-matter-focused consequently, all counsel in the chambers are not required to restrict their expertise to areas. What is required of counsel is to ensure a comprehensive knowledge base on each and every client. This is fostered by our in-house programme in which each counsel in chambers is a Relationship Manager with responsibility for specific regulatory agency. In this way we get the best of both worlds: our counsel develop in-depth knowledge of their client’s business in a way that could never happen in a chambers driven by subject-matter-focus; and, additionally, counsel by virtue of their regulatory agency responsibilities, are often called upon to assist in service-delivery to different clients at various times.

Our clients are very much first in the ordering of our affairs.

Practice Descriptions

Owing to the diverse and growing range of our clientele and the different requirements they have for legal advice and representation, our experience spans a wide and dynamic range of practice areas. Our competency traverses the whole gamut of the law, ranging from Energy, Oil & Gas, Taxation, Shipping & Admiralty and Aviation to Dispute Resolution & Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Immigration, Information & Communications Technology, Real Property and Intellectual Property. The firm also provides business advisory services.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) - Alternative dispute resolution is a critically important process, particularly for multinational companies with cross-border operations. Our firm has been involved in several high profile arbitration proceedings both within Nigeria and internationally. CRWC has provided ADR across a number of industries, and has robust experience in the process, which allows us to maximize our client’s position during any negotiation process. We have involved in a large number of negotiations and conciliation proceedings. Our Managing Partner, Folarin Williams, is a certified mediator and negotiator.

Business Advisory Services - Our Business Advisory Service department includes a secretarial arm, Unity Trustees Limited (UTL). UTL provides secretarial and HR services to a number of public and private companies. A non-exhaustive list of services offered include: offering general business consultation and advice, corporate structuring and updates, tax advisory services, IPO processing, procurement of business permits for domestic and foreign companies, and mergers and acquisitions. CRWC also has a long-standing involvement with corporate clients in the United States, and has a thorough knowledge of the FCPA and other American regulatory issues.

Business Regulatory Services - CRWC offers a number of advisory services. These services include: Taxation, Immigration, Information, Media & Communication Technology and Intellectual Property. We help our clients to apply for and obtain the permits and other regulatory requirements demanded by the government. Staying current on business regulatory matters is essential to staying in business and avoiding fines. We ensure that our clients are able to focus on their business and remain in compliance with the law.

Corporate and Commercial Practice - For several decades, our firm has been rooted in the practice of legal and business advisory services on Nigerian Corporate and Commercial laws. This includes a wide range of services, including corporate administration and complex commercial transactions and arrangements. Our experience makes it possible to represent our clients (both domestic and international) on almost any issue in any sector of the economy.

Employment and Labor - We frequently deal with Nigerian Labor Laws and employment disputes. Our services include the drafting of employment as well as outsourcing contracts, negotiating with trade unions on client’s behalf, and hosting of round table conferences on employer-employee relations. We also provide counsel on proper HR procedures. In addition, CRWC has a long list of successful litigation that has come from employer-employee disputes, and have represented some of the biggest clients in each of the following sectors: Aviation, Banking and Finance, Education, Energy, Manufacturing, Mining, Oil and Gas, Producing, Telecommunications. Many of the cases we have litigated have gone on to become landmark cases in Nigerian Employment Law.

Energy (Power, Oil, and Gas) - One of our most well known clients is an international civil engineering firm that was building the hydroelectric dam in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. In addition, we have advised clients who were building gas pipelines for private power generation, and we have more than 5 decades of experience in the power, oil, and gas industry. Some of the services we provide in this sector include: the operation of concessions, assignment of existing rights, acquisition and exploitation of oil licenses. The firm also defends and handles environmental suits.

Financial Services - The firm has litigated numerous cases for and against Banks, Insurance companies and other Financial Institutions. The firms have advised clients on the procedures for the acquisition of licences under BOFIA and Insurance Act and also the compliance requirements of Anti-Money Laundering legislation and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act.

Mining - For the past several years, we have represented and continue to work closely with the few established Junior Mining Companies in Nigeria, international accredited (affiliated) Laboratories, Internationally Recognised Exploration Services Companies and Financial Institutions.

Intellectual Property - As a full-service firm, CRWC is highly proficient in protecting your company’s intellectual property. This includes everything from filing trademarks, patents, and design applications to the various registries in Abuja when requested and where necessary we will protect our client’s intellectual property in court when other entities infringe on those properties.

Manufacturing - We have advised manufacturing corporations in a variety of capacities. One of the most common areas we are called upon is ensuring overall compliance with the various regulatory climates within Nigeria. We have also assisted in purchase agreements for manufacturing equipment, outsourcing contracts, and manufacturing agreements (including licensing deals). We have also represented some of the major pharmaceutical corporations, including the negotiation of multi-billion dollar joint venture agreements.

Maritime and Aviation - Maritime and Aviation law is growing significantly in Nigeria, and CRWC is at the forefront of representing the relevant interests in this industry. We have represented several ship owners, charterers, and airlines. We advise our clients on everything from ship and aircraft registration to preparing documents and contracts for our client’s customers. Our services also include: wet leases; charter party agreements, ship mortgages, aircraft mortgages, loan and security agreements and air operating licenses.

Media, Information and Communications Technology - We have produced some of the leading papers in the information and communications technology sector. We have also helped some of our clients with facility management and the outsourcing of contracts in the rapidly growing technology industry. We are also proud to represent VAS (Value Added Services) suppliers to telecommunication companies on both commercial and regulatory matters.

Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) - Both PPPs and PFIs play a significant role in the Nigerian economy. CRWC is proud to be able to claim that we have been at the forefront of the development of PPP-related transactions as early as the 1970s. We provide advisory services from the project development stage (i.e. feasibility studies, due diligence, and procurement) to the contract negotiation stage. We also provide on-going operations and management at all stages.

CRWC has also provided counsel on several private interests on project finance, asset finance, and structured finance transactions. The firm is also the proud recipient of the World Bank’s African Bankers’ Award for “Transaction of the Year” in 2011.

Real Estate - Real estate is a sector that is rapidly growing in Nigeria. CRWC has worked on numerous private and commercial property transactions for clients, and currently is advising several entities on corporate and project finance for private estate developments.

Taxation - CRWC has a number of tax specialists who are able to provide innovative and creative legal advice to our clients in order to maximize their tax efficiency. We have invested a significant amount of our resources to making this one of our most robust areas of expertise. Our firm has a strong domestic tax capability, thanks to decades of experience and hiring the best talent.

Family Law - We provide advisory and representation in all aspects of family law with a clear understanding on the sensitive issues that may arise in areas including:

Divorce Custody Pre-nuptial and Post-nuptial agreements Adoption. Estate Planning CRWC also provides the critical support in the disposal of assets including the structuring, distribution and succession plan of assets.

We advise on the most effective modes of estate management via appropriate instruments including:

Trusts/Charities

Will drafting Obtaining grants of Probate Overall estate Planning Litigation - CRWC is a leading provider of litigation services for dispute settlement. Our renowned litigation experience has resulted in seminal judgments that remain precedent to this day. We have represented and still represent an array of multinational public and private organisations, local public and private organisations and governmental institutions across varying sectors including:

Real Estate litigation Banking and finance litigation Family litigation Employment litigation Aviation litigation Corporate litigation

Our dynamic team of experienced lawyers adopt a holistic approach to client needs ensuring client awareness to strategies adopted and the stage by stage development of their matter.

• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
• Business Advisory Services
• Business Regulatory Services
• Corporate and Commercial Practice
• Employment and Labor
• Energy (Power, Oil and Gas)
• Family Law
• Financial Services
• Intellectual Property
• Litigation
• Manufacturing
• Maritime and Aviation
• Media, Information and Communications Technology
• Mining
• Private Finance Initiatives (PFI)
• Public Private Partnerships (PPP)
• Real Estate
• Taxation