Practice Leaders > Dr. Obiora Okafor

Dr. Obiora C. Okafor
Dr. Obiora C. Okafor has over twenty years experience as a legal practitioner.
He has served as a short-term consultant for various United Nations bodies, the Canadian Government, various top Canadian law firms, and the British Council/DFID Access to Justice Program in Nigeria. Additionally, Dr. Okafor is a world-class scholar, who has served as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School, USA; MIT, Cambridge, USA; the Kent Law School, England; and the International Institute for Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
He has also authored or co-edited over nine books and special journal issues, and more than fifty-five other pieces of legal writing.
Prior to joining Sophos Juristes, he had served as a junior partner in the law firm of Okwu-Okafor and Associates and a team leader at Blackfriars Solicitors. His latest book, The African Human Rights System, Activist Forces and International Institutions, was published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

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Nigerian Bar Association
Canadian Council on International Law
Academic Council on the United Nations System
American Society of International Law

Governor-General of Canada’s Gold Medal

Award of Excellence, Canadian Association of Black Lawyers

York University Board of Governors’ Recognition for Outstanding Research

Excellence in Teaching Award, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Canada

Canada-US Fulbright Fellowship at MIT, USA

SSRC-MacArthur Foundation Fellowship on Peace and Security in a Changing World

Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Pre-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbia

Law Foundation of British Columbia Fellowship

ICJ Judge Bola Ajibola Prize for Best Graduating Student in the Department of International Law and Jurisprudence, University of Nigeria

University Prize for Best Graduating Student in the Department of International Law and Jurisprudence at the University of Nigeria

Ph.D., (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)

LL.M., (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)

LL.M., (University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Nigeria)

LL.B. (Honours), (University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Nigeria)

B.L., (Nigerian Law School, Lagos, Nigeria)

• The African Human Rights System, Activist Forces and International Institutions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• Legitimizing Human Rights NGOs: Lessons from Nigeria (Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2006)
• Re-Defining Legitimate Statehood: International Law and State Fragmentation in Africa (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 2000)
• “‘Righting’ the Right to Development: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Article 22 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights” in Stephen Marks, eds., Implementing the Right to Development: The Role of International Law (Geneva and Cambridge, MA: Frederich Ebert Stiftung and Harvard University, 2008)
• “Social Action Litigation and Access to Justice in Nigeria: A Critical Case Study” in G. Welch, ed., Accelerating Access to Justice for the Poor (New York and Delhi: UNDP and Oxford University Press, 2009) (with Shedrack Agbakwa)
• “On Legalism, Popular Agency and ‘Voices of Suffering’: The Nigerian National Human Rights Commission in Context” (2002) Human Rights Quarterly 662-720 (with Shedrack Agbakwa)
• "Students' Union Courts as Arbitral Tribunals in Nigerian Law: The Case of the University of Nigeria" (1997) 8 Australian Dispute Resolution Journal 19-26.
• "The Fundamental Right to a Travel Passport under Nigerian Law: An Integrated Viewpoint" (1996) 40 Journal of African Law 53-61.
• "What is the True Standard of Proof in Matrimonial Causes?" (1993) 4 JUSTICE-A Journal of Contemporary Legal Problems 29-44.