The Young Business Lawyer Spotlight series strives to promote our own young lawyers in Nigeria. This feature spotlighting Modupe Dabiri of Templars in Lagos, Nigeria, is part of a series featuring the voices of the next generation…
Professional summary – Dupe is a Managing Counsel in Templars’ Finance and Energy & Projects practice groups. She has extensive experience advising a broad range of clients including project sponsors, banks, funds, multilateral agencies and other financial institutions on diverse transactions. including project and structured finance, energy and infrastructure projects, banking, corporate restructuring, insolvency, concessions and Islamic finance. She was most recently a Visiting Associate in the Projects and Corporate teams in Latham & Watkins LLP (London). She is recognised as a Rising Star in international legal directories, IFLR 1000 Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms and the Legal 500.
Modupe led the team that advised Heirsholdings Oil & Gas Limited (formerly TNOG Oil & Gas Limited) on the US$1.1 billion multi-tranche financing for its US$800 million acquisition of the 45% participating interest held by Shell, Total and Agip in oil mining lease 17 and on the negotiations of the unprecedented deferred purchase price component with the sellers. She advised Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited on the development and the equity and Sinosure-backed debt financing of the c. US$1.3 billion deep sea port project granted on a 45-year build-operate-transfer concession from the Nigerian Ports Authority and guaranteed by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Four Questions with Modupe
What do you appreciate most about your work as a young lawyer?
As a business lawyer, being afforded the opportunity of structuring and advising on cross-border and domestic cutting-edge transactions with real socio-economic impact is exciting and surely brings me a sense of fulfillment. The ongoing exposure across various business sectors of the economy satisfies my intellectual curiosity as it keeps my mind in a continuous learning process.
What have you learned from your experience so far?
Climbing the corporate ladder, I have, among other things, learned self-awareness, commercial astuteness and emotional intelligence. Self-awareness relates to knowing your strengths and weaknesses, including others’ perception of you. Commercial awareness is the fulcrum of my job as a business lawyer.
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Given the overarching aim of a business transaction to achieve a commercial objective rather than win a legal battle, IQ is equally as important EQ. I have, over the years, developed emotional intelligence because my job entails managing various sides of the divide on a transaction without necessarily alienating a counterparty. Also, you can’t be the smartest in the room because various perspectives are equally valid.
I’d like to add that, although I may have learned this the hard way, smart work pays better than hard work!
In your opinion, what is a major challenge faced by young business lawyers in the legal profession in Nigeria?
I would say, a major challenge relates to training. There is no gainsaying the fact that experience is the best teacher. I, however, find that junior lawyers working in top-tier law firms are unable to sufficiently learn on the job due to the fast-paced nature of transactions and the tight deadlines which oftentimes leads to lack of depth of knowledge. For instance, heavy reliance is usually placed on (i) templates without necessarily understanding the rationale behind certain clauses, and (ii) residual knowledge and experience of the supervisors with little or no time for the juniors to seek further knowledge before they proceed to the next task. It is imperative for the supervisors to ensure that, in the course of transactions, junior lawyers garner optimum appreciation of the intricacies.
What would you say has kept you going over the years?
My passion and drive for excellence for the legal profession has kept me going over the years. I have aspired to become a lawyer since the age of 5. That passion and my strong sense of ambition have kept me going over the years. The relationships that I have forged and continue to forge, within my firm, with clients and more widely, in the market, have also been helpful. The work is sometimes already hard enough, and so the right human relationships have proven useful to me in making the process less difficult and enjoyable.
