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A distinguished personality, author, and a veteran in law, Emmanuel graduated from the Faculty of Law of the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, in 2006. And in 2007, the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, Nigeria with a Second Class Upper Degree. Also, he was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2007. Recently, he obtained a
Master’s Degree in International Business Law with Merit from the University of Liverpool, England.
He has vast international business advisory experience. He is a Member of the Nigerian Bar Association, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management Consultants, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration, England.
He has wide-ranging experience in the recovery of diverse debts across borders. Emmanuel has engaged in prominent commercial litigations at the High and appellate courts. He has acted as Counsel in both domestic and international commercial arbitrations.
He advises foreign companies on business formations in Nigeria and other legal compliance matters in doing business in Nigeria. He is exposed to Nigeria’s intellectual property practice and the legal regime in Nigeria’s real estate and construction sector.
About Fred Young & Evans
Founded in 2014, Fred-Young & Evans LP, Nigeria is a full-service commercial law firm. It provides legal services throughout Nigeria and the African continent. The service offerings include Business and Commercial Law, Company Secretarial Services, Foreign Investments, Commercial Litigation, Arbitration, and ADR Proceedings,
Real Estate and Construction, Intellectual Property, Debt Collection, Labour and Employment Law, Adoption, Matrimonial Causes, and Probate, Sports and Entertainment Law, Legal Compliance Audit, Due Diligence, Asset Tracing, Investigations and Process Servers.
Becoming an Author
Growing up, Emmanuel liked reading books by several Nigerian and foreign authors on prose literature, politics, law, psychology, history, religion, encyclopaedias, and success stories of persons who have established themselves in different sectors of human endeavour. This sparked up the author’s spirit in him. When he got admission to study law, he started writing articles for publication on the Faculty’s notice boards.
This background improved his writing skills; it became an opportunity to create awareness through his publications. As a lawyer, education based marketing has assisted him to expose our law firm and its services to a wider audience across continents. This has attracted referrals to our firm from sources we did not anticipate.
He has authored several scholarly works in local and international journals. His recent books are “Impact of Nigeria’s Legislations and Business Practices on Foreign Investments” available on www.morebooks.com. He also wrote as a specialist contributor on the topic “Enforcement of Arbitral Awards and Foreign Judgments in Nigeria” to the book “Contemporary Issues in Law and Society: Legal Essays in Tribute to the Hon. Justice Chinwe E. Iyizoba JCA” of the Court of Appeal.
He wrote on “Arbitration! A Bane to Prompt Resolution of International Commercial Disputes; A Case of Nigeria” in partial fulfilment for the award of LLM in International Business Law by the University of Liverpool.
Emmanuel and his fascinating wife Udeme are blessed to have four lovely children, Idara, Imaobong, Otobong, and Raja.
An Esteemed Client Base
Fred-Young & Evans LP’s clients are foreign companies with business interests in Nigeria and foreigners doing business in Nigeria. It represents reputable brands and highprofile clients in transactions and dispute resolution throughout Nigeria. Accessibility and Integrity are its watchwords with sheer interest in the clients’ business.
It takes time to understand the clients business and devise a tailor-made solution to their legal problems. The essence of this is to effectively solve clients’ problems within a reasonable time and cost and maintain long-term business relationships. This has made them have faith and trust in our services.
Tackling Challenges Efficiently
The first challenge Fred-Young & Evans LP encountered was the natural fear and doubts in starting up a new business. After months of reading literature on start-ups and preparation, we were ready to launch the brand. To grapple with the challenge of getting an affordable office space, we convinced a real estate firm to sublease a portion of its office space to us.
However, the main challenge was getting people to know who we were and believe in our service offerings. Through the publication of weekly articles on diverse areas of law, hard work, quality performance, patience, and perseverance, we started attracting clients and referrals within Nigeria and abroad.
Words of Wisdom – From Emmanuel’s Desk
The journey to where we are today started from undergoing pupillage at a reputable and thorough law firm. The firm imbibed in me the values of hard work, perseverance, and integrity. I was taught the rudiments of legal
practice and introduced to networks that have been the basis of our growth today.
When we started our practice, our dedication to our few clients made them realize our potentials which they harnessed by entrusting more tasks to us and referring us to their clients, friends, and family members. This improved our research on many areas of law towards meeting the legal needs of our clients. This experience has made us resource persons in our areas of law practice.
Enlightening Female Entrepreneurs with a Powerful Mindset
The feminist movement in the world today is not to enthrone the superiority of the female gender above the male gender but to advocate that equal opportunities are available to both genders. The practices and cultures which suppress women and make them inferior should be abolished. Women should be encouraged to vie for political offices and contest for positions viewed by society to be exclusively for men.
The workplace should give equal opportunities to both men and women to excel. For the same cadre, women should have the same remuneration as men. Firms should put in place codes of conduct to tackle sexual harassment and other vices against women in the workplace.
Female entrepreneurs should be motivated because women have achieved triumphs in many areas of human endeavour. He encourages female entrepreneurs to be confident to venture into businesses of their choice and dare to live their dreams. They should equip themselves with the requisite knowledge, exposure, and skills to enable them to compete and succeed in their chosen businesses.
A Day in the Life of Emmanuel After waking up, Emmanuel spends a few minutes reflecting on how the last day went and how he would want the new day to be. He says his prayers, lays his bed, and assists his wife in getting their children ready for school. Once he drops the children at school, he goes to the office. At the office, he returns calls and draws a schedule for the day. He then responds to outstanding correspondence and emails and visits the courts and clients’ offices to attend court proceedings and meetings. He returns to the office by late
afternoon to review the tasks of his colleagues at the office and give further instructions. He calls home to
check on his family and ensures that the children have done their homework and everything is in order. He reviews court processes for filing, drafting legal opinions for clients, and carrying out research works for
weekly publications on the firm’s website, networks, and online platforms. Some evenings, he hangs out with
friends to have a bottle of drink, discuss politics, and watch football before returning home to family.
Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist: A Defining Moment
It taught Emmanuel that discovering one’s destiny is the essence of life. The greatest lesson he learned from the book is that each experience in life prepares you for your destiny. You may travel the world to find your destiny only to discover that your destiny is where you started the journey from. Nonetheless, the experience you gathered in your life’s sojourn will equip you to achieve your destiny.
Company’s Awards Milestones
The firm has received many prestigious awards some of them include:
- Corporate USA Today Annual Awards, 2018, Best Full-Service Commercial Law Firm of the Year- Nigeria
- Lawyer International Legal 100, 2019, Emmanuel Ekpenyong, Fred-Young & Evans, Best Managing
Partner of the Year –Nigeria, Lawyer’s World - Best Commercial Law Firm- Nigeria, 2019, M & A Today Global Awards, Leading Cross Boarders Debt Recovery Lawyer of the Year- Nigeria, 2020
A Visionary Future
The vision is to continually learn and groom leaders in law to understand and apply modern legal principles, trends, and techniques in solving legal problems. Each lawyer gets trained to have foresight and think independently. The team anticipates various outcomes and proffer different options to meet its client’s legal needs.
The clients benefit from a robust team of industry experts and experienced legal practitioners whose mantles have been proven over the years. Our dream is to be a leading light in commercial law practice in Nigeria and be reckoned with by other reputable law firms abroad.
