A Nigerian law firm, G. Elias, has called on members of the legal profession to deploy current technology and other innovations to improve their service delivery to their clients and other stakeholders in the business community.
The law firm, founded 30 years ago by Professor Gbolahan Elias, said lawyers must keep abreast of current technological tools in the legal industry to deliver the highest service standards to its clients.
The firm stated this at an event to announce the appointment of executive partners to lead the management team and oversee its business.
According to the firm, Fidelis Adewole and Okechukwu Okoro had been appointed as their managing partners and deputy managing partners, respectively.
Adewole said law is a bit different from other professions because of the need for human touch, which technology, no matter how effective, cannot entirely take over.
He said, “Lawyers should not only rely on LexisNexis; you can use Microsoft team apps, through which teams can have their meetings rather than the physical interface where firms were before COVID-19. Up until September last year, we were working remotely.
“There are some unavoidable costs which a firm would have to pay, such as the essential cost of technology, which is where the world is headed, but once you invest in it, it yields returns. Invest heavily in technology, think progressively, he said.
Adewole has over 17 years of experience in corporate law (including serial mergers), litigation and arbitration. Okoro has over 12 years of experience, and his primary practice areas are energy, disputes and finance, including investments in renewables and billion-dollar forward sale financings for upstream oil players.
- Elias has 60 lawyers serving Nigerian, pan-African and international clients ranging from top global multinational enterprises to ambitious, home-grown fledglings, governments, and government-controlled enterprises.
The founding partner Prof. Gbolahan Elias (SAN) said, “The firm’s future could not be in better hands. I fully seize this opportunity to re-embrace my true love, core practising law and working on specific clients’ instructions.”
The former managing partner Fred Onuobia (SAN) congratulated the new executives on their appointment and thanked them for accepting the mandate to lead the firm to a greater height.
He also reaffirmed the firm’s commitment to global standard law practice even with the new leadership.
“We are excited by the prospect that our new duo of exceptional millennial leaders will deliver record outperformance on every key metric for years to come. We are committed to giving the best advice and consultation to our clients and key stakeholders in every sector we operate.
“We will continue to prioritise technical proficiency and creativity in developing practical solutions to client’s problems,” he said.
