After graduating with a BA in Jurisprudence (First Class) and a Distinction in the BCL (both from St Edmund Hall, Oxford), Anthony was called to the Bar. He is now an Associate Member of Serle Court.

Being an Associate Member allows him to concentrate on his several academic projects: he is a Non-Stipendiary Lecturer in Roman and Contract Law at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and a Retained Fee Lecturer at Somerville College, Oxford. He also teaches on the Bar Professional Training Course at BPP University, specialising in Commercial Dispute Resolution.

His principal area of research is private international law, focusing on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Most recently, he has concentrated in particular on the private international law rules employed in Anglophone African jurisdictions and has, along with Andrew Moran KC, co-authored a leading practitioner text in that field.

Lorraine has a broad practice in commercial (both litigation and arbitration) and international law. Her commercial practice encompasses civil fraud, contractual disputes, shipping, and general commercial matters. Examples of recent matters include a breach of contract and unlawful means conspiracy claim in respect of a large contract involving a foreign state, litigation relating to trusts and asset recovery following a major fraud, a marine insurance dispute following the seizure of a vessel in territorial waters, disputes arising under s 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986, and Letters of Request under the 1970 Hague Convention provisions.

Her commercial arbitration experience includes proceedings under the ICC, LCIA and LMAA Rules, involving oil and gas, telecommunications and ship building disputes, as well as share purchase agreements. Lorraine has also been instructed in high value commercial employment claims in the High Court, both for Claimant and Defendant companies.

Lorraine was a member of the legal team which represented the Republic of Chile before the International Court of Justice in the Dispute over the Status and the Use of the Waters of the Silala (Chile v Bolivia). She was previously seconded to the Legal Directorate of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (“FCDO”) where she advised on a range of public international law issues, involving foreign nationals and foreign governments and has continued to advise the FCDO on the designation of persons under the Sanctions, Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA). She also advises non-governmental organisations and private parties on public international law matters and has been involved in proceedings in the European Court of Human Rights.

Before coming to the Bar, Lorraine studied European Legal Studies at the University of Southampton, where she graduated ranked second in her year. As part of her degree, she studied French Law at the Université de Nantes. She then completed an LLM in International Law at University College London, followed by the BPTC at City Law School, as a Major Scholar of the Inner Temple.

Dele is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (Nigeria’s equivalent of a King’s Counsel (KC) who has been practicing law since 1985. Dele practices in the area of commercial law, both advisory and litigation, and has considerable experience in that area of work. Like Babajide, Dele has been involved in almost every complex and significant commercial work handled by SOOB. Dele has vast transactional experience in a broad range of international and domestic corporate and commercial law issues, including transactions relating to joint ventures, corporate partnerships and franchises, Oil & Gas industry transactions, and work involving government and public authorities.

Dele has extensive expertise in Alternative Dispute Resolution (Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation). To date, Dele has been involved over 50 domestic and international commercial arbitrations, either as counsel or as arbitrator. He became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) in March 1997, and a Chartered Arbitrator of the same Institute in 2004. He was the Chairman of the Nigeria Branch of the Institute between 2014 and 2017. He was a member of the Executive Council of ICC Nigeria for several years until his resignation in June 2019. 

In addition to the foregoing, Civil Fraud (Anti-Money Laundering, Commercial crime, Asset Tracing and Recovery); Banking & Finance.

Dele was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1985 and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2001. Dele graduated from the University of Hull, UK where he obtained his LL. B (Hons) and then went on to obtain his master’s in law in the University of Bristol in 1984. He is a founding member of the firm. He holds several other positions locally and international in a diverse range of corporate and professional bodies.

Andrew’s practice covers a broad range of work from contentious trusts, through what may be conveniently described as general commercial work and civil fraud, to professional indemnity insurance work of various sorts.

A significant proportion of his work originates overseas, in particular from the USA, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and various Caribbean jurisdictions.

He has a particular interest and expertise in English-speaking African jurisdictions and is, together with Anthony Kennedy, the author of Commercial Litigation in Anglophone Africa (Juta , 2^nd ed., 2022), recognised as the leading authority in that field.

Andrew has been invited to address a number of conferences in Africa including the Commonwealth Lawyers Association Conference in Livingstone, Zambia, and the SADC Lawyers’ Association in Maputo, Mozambique, as well as conferences in Kenya and Ghana.