Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors

Anthony Idigbe is the firm’s Senior Partner, who chairs the Board of Partners. He deals primarily with litigation (commercial, especially in capital market, mergers and acquisition, property and construction, intellectual property, elections, banking and finance, insolvency, constitutional and administrative law); insolvency (business restructuring, receivership, debt recovery, insolvency litigation including cross-border insolvency matters); capital market (private placement, initial public offers, bonds and debentures, mergers and acquisition, special placing, de-mergers and restructuring, dealings with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and appearance before the Investment and Securities Tribunal) and arbitration (claimant’s counsel, respondent’s counsel, presiding arbitrator). He has also been involved as lead counsel in many ‘big ticket’ briefs in litigation in Nigeria such as the Kano Trovan Clinical Trial Cases involving the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Other significant transactions involve banking, capital markets, oil and gas, construction/public-private partnerships; advisory/regulatory matters for government institutions, amongst others. He also has extensive experience in insolvency litigation and has acted for several institutions, including multinational companies and state enterprises, creditors and debtors alike. His involvement includes engagement in most of the litigation, both civil and criminal, arising from the 2008-2009 bank crisis in Nigeria. He was appointed in 2013 as the National Coordinator for Nigeria, World Bank Global Forum of Law, Justice and Development Project on Treatment of Shareholders’ Rights in Insolvency of Companies (2013-2014). Anthony Idigbe also has extensive experience in arbitration, particularly in oil and gas, and has been involved in various commercial arbitrations (including ICC arbitrations), in the capacity of chairman, member, counsel or party representative. He is a member of ICC Nigeria National Committee on Arbitration and was chairman of the ICC Nigeria Mediation Rules Launch Sub-committee in 2014. His appointments as arbitrator has extended to disputes between venture partners over oil mining licenses and asset acquisition disputes. He has been appointed by various parties including national oil company, independent oil companies and arbitral institutions. He was appointed in 2013 as a member of the Presidential Special Committee on Oil Revenue, to review the nation’s oil revenue challenges.

Ebele is a partner in the firm, whose practice areas include corporate practice, commercial law, family law, electoral law, energy/power sector, oil and gas and natural gas resources. She has extensive experience in company secretarial services, having handled several matters which involved her vast knowledge of Company and Allied Matters. Her expertise also involves Electoral Law, wherein she has handled several election petitions including defending the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) in various election petitions arising from the general elections held in 2007; as well as Financial Services Law, having advised and assisted various multinationals and companies in restructuring their credit facilities. Ebele was also involved in the ‘big ticket’ brief in litigation in Nigeria involving the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturing company.

A partner in the firm, Elizabeth Idigbe heads the Energy/Natural Resources/Special Projects unit. Prior to this time, she worked in one of the major oil and gas companies in Nigeria from 2001 to 2010, where she rose to the position of General Manager, HR/Corporate Services/Company Secretariat. She is reputed for her expertise in oil and gas, wealth management, trust, security documentation, debt factoring and restructuring, real estate & project finance, foreign direct investment, company secretarial services and general corporate practice, as well as arbitration.

Partner

Okorie is a partner in the firm and a senior member of its litigation and ADR department. He also heads the Insolvency Litigation and Continuous Training Development department. His practice focuses mainly on commercial litigation including contractual disputes and banking matters, insolvency related disputes, capital market cases before the Investments and Securities Tribunal, criminal cases, amongst others. Okorie has also authored and co-authored several articles on a range of legal issues. He also facilitates at trainings of the Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria (BRIPAN), and other fora. He was also a member of the technical sub-committee that developed the new Nigerian Insolvency Bill draft.