Adefoworola Olutope Tokan-Lawal (“Tope”) is a lawyer licensed in both Texas, USA (2012) and Nigeria (2014). She has represented clients in arbitration, litigation, intellectual property, construction, immigration (USA), corporate/commercial practices, and international trade law. She leverages her business background in her representation of clients’ interests and in her delivery of commercially workable solutions to clients’ concerns. She also possesses an exceptional commitment to pro bono and community service work and is a juvenile justice advocate.
Prior to joining OTL Law, she was a partner at LawQue Legal for over a year and an associate at AELEX Legal Practitioners for 5 years. At AELEX, she was the lead counsel for a developer in the dredging, reclamation, and financing of an estate in Lekki, Lagos. She handled the passing off action between the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK v Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Nigeria Ltd/Gte. She was also part of the team representing a financier in the arbitration against a field operator, and part of the team that advised a major telecommunications company and represented it in courts in several matters cutting across various law practice areas. She was also part of the team that advised on International Trade law and the impact of the AfCFTA.
Tope attended the University of Texas, Arlington and obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA Hons.) in Management (Cum Laude). She then attended Baylor University School of Law in Waco, Texas, where she obtained her Juris Doctor (JD) degree. Tope passed the Texas Bar exams in 2011 and was called to the State Bar of Texas in 2012. She practiced as an Immigration Attorney before she returned to Nigeria to attend the Nigerian Law School in Bwari-FCT. She was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2014, having graduated with second class upper honours and received the 3rd Best Student in Civil Litigation Course award. In 2021, she obtained her LL.M. degree, in Human Right and Law & Economic Development from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts (USA).
Tope is a member of the Nigeria Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, and the International Bar Association. She is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK.
Tope is the Chair of TOKAN Foundation for Children and Young People, a charity that advocates for and provides educational and financial support to vulnerable children in Nigeria. She also chairs the Child Rights and Juvenile Justice Center (“CRJJC”).