Senior Lecturer in Law

I joined the University of Bedfordshire School of Accounting, Finance, and Law as a Senior Lecturer in Law in February 2022. I am the LLB law programme lead and I teach varied International Economic and Commercial Law and foundation of legal knowledge modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I also supervise postgraduate dissertation students and PhD research students.

I am currently serving as chief examiner and tutor on the World Trade and International Investment Law modules at the University of London (QMUL/UCL) LLM degree in International Economic Law.

Before joining the University of Bedfordshire School of Law, I was a lecturer at the University of Leeds and Westminster, where I taught and coordinated International Economic and Commercial Law modules.

I qualified as a barrister and solicitor in Nigeria in 2003 and I am a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators London. I have over 15 years multi- jurisdictional experience as a lawyer. I have practiced law in firms in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

I obtained an LLM in Corporate and Commercial Law from the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London in 2005 and a PhD from The University of Leeds in 2009, in which I specialised in International Investment Law.

Having obtained a PhD in International Economic Law, my field of research interests are World Trade and Investment Law, in which I have published widely in.

In addition to my role as a lecturer and researcher, I have experience in investment treaty making when I was invited as an expert member of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa advisory group that provided policy recommendations for a balanced investment treaty in Africa, which informed the negotiations of the AFCFTA Investment Protocol.

Subsequently, From December 2021 to March 2022, I was invited as an expert member to the United Nations Economic Commission For Africa (ECA)’s Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional Integration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology. The aim was to provide recommendations for accelerating African economic development through innovative investment policies, which resulted in the Report on the second session of the Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional Integration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology.

I am currently a member of the expert group of the OECD Investment Committee Secretariat on investment treaties and climate change, I am engaging and participating in policy advice and formation. The OECD Committee on investment treaties and climate change is a project that aims to address investment treaties and climate change. I am also a member of the UNCTAD Multi-Stakeholder Platform on IIA Reform. I am engaging to expedite the reform of the IIA regime.

Qualifications

• PhD in International Economic Law for “an analysis of the interplay between Investment Contract Law and Arbitration and Human Rights of Local Communities and International in Nigeria”- University of Leeds
• (LLM) in Corporate and Commercial Law- Queen Mary University of London
• BL Barrister and Solicitor at Law- Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos
• LLB (Hons) University of Nigeria

Membership of Professional Bodies

• Associate Member Chartered Institute of Arbitrators London
• Nigerian Bar Association

Teaching Expertise

• International Investment Treaty Law and Arbitration
• International Energy Law
• International Economic Law
• Company Law
• Commercial Law

Research Interests

• Impact of International Investment Law and Governance on environmental and human rights of indigenous communities
• A south perspective on International Investment Law developments on public health.
• International Investment Law and Climate Change
• International Investment Law and Corporate Accountability

External Roles

• External Examiner at Regents University, Law (2020- Present)
• Chief Examiner at QMUL/UCL, the University of London LLM degree in international law and international commercial law (2019-Present)
• Member expert panel of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)’s Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional Integration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology (2021- Present)
• Expert participant of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Investment Committee’s work on responding to the impact of investment treaties on climate change (2022-present)
• Participant of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Multi-Stakeholder Platform on expediting the reform of the international investment agreement regime (2024-present).

Previous Roles

• 2022-2022 Expert member of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)’s Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional Integration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology.
• 2020- 2020 Expert member of the advisory group of the United Nations Economic Commission For Africa that provided policy recommendations for a balanced investment treaty in Africa, which informed the negotiations of the AFCFTA Investment Protocol
• 2019-2022 Lecturer in Law, School of Law, University of Westminster
• 2011-2017 Lecturer in Law, School of Law, University of Leeds
• 2006-2018 Rapporteur for Oxford Reports on International Investment Claims

Research Publications

• Ejims O ‘Developing a Climate Resilient Investment Protocol: Lessons From the Final Draft Protocol on Investment to the Agreement Establishing the African Free Trade Area’ (2023) 3 Transnational Dispute Management.
• Ejims O, ‘Investment Law and Indigenous Peoples: A Methodology for the Analysis of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ Manchester Journal of International Economic Law, (December 2022 Vol 19(3))
• Ejims O, ‘Using Investment Treaties to Hold Companies Accountable: A case Study of the Morocco- Nigeria Bilateral Investment Treaty’, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre,5 October 2022.
• Ejims O, Land Resources Rights for Oil Producing Communities in the Niger Delta During Petroleum Operations: An Appraisal of the Legislation Relating to Petroleum Operations in Nigeria’ (2021) 1 (1) Lagos Bar Journal 33
•  Ejims O, 'Access to COVID-19 Treatment, International Intellectual Property Protection and Nigerian Bilateral Investment Treaties: Patent Protection and Compulsory Licencing', Afronomics law, 16 June 2020.
• Ejims O, ‘African Regional Investment Agreements: Neutralising a Threat to Non-communicable disease Control Policies’, Manchester Journal of International Economic Law, 2020, 17(1): 11-26.
• Ejims O, Morocco- Nigeria Bilateral Investment Treaty: More Practical Reality in Providing a Balanced Investment Treaty? The ICSID Review- Foreign Investment Law Journal, 2019, 34(1): 62-84.
• Ejims O, ‘The Impact of Nigerian International Petroleum Contracts on Environment and Human Rights of Indigenous Communities’, African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 2013, 21.3: 345-377.
• Ejims O, Commentary: ‘Railroad Development Corporation v Republic of Guatemala ICSID Case No. ARB/07/23, Decision on Jurisdiction of November 2008, Oxford Reports on International Law (ORIL) (2012)
• Ejims, O, Commentary: Siemens AG v Argentina, ICSID Case No ARB/02/8, Award of 6 February 2007’, Oxford Reports on International Investment Law (ORIL) (2008)
• Ejims, O, Commentary: Olguin v Paraguay, ICSID Case No ARB/98/5, Decision on Jurisdiction of 8 August 2000’, Oxford Reports on International Investment Law (ORIL) (2008)
• Ejims, O, Commentary: Olguin v Paraguay, ICSID Case No ARB/98/5, Award of 26 July 2001’Oxford Reports on International Investment Law (ORIL) (2008)

Book Chapters

• Ejims, O ‘The Basis for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in International Investment Agreements’ in Louisa Ashley and Nicolette Butler (eds) The Incoherence of Human Rights in International Law: Absence, Emergence and Limitations, Routledge Autumn 2024 ( in the printing press)

Reports/ Submissions to Inquiries/ Consultations 

• Contribution to the UNECA report “Towards a Common Investment Area in the African Continental Free Trade Area: Levelling the Playing Field for Intra-African Investment” (UNECA, 2020)
• Written Submission: Future of Investment Treaties Track 1- Investment Treaties and Climate Change: Notes on Survey of Climate Policies for Investment Treaties (15 January 2024)
• Expert participation: commentary on “methods for aligning investment treaties with the Paris Agreement” at the 9^th OECD Investment Treaty Conference in Paris on 11 March 2024
• Oral and written Submission: “The AfCFTA Agreement: the New Policy Framework to Unlocking Africa's Investment Potential”.- report on the new policy framework's aim at establishing a balanced, transparent, and mutually advantageous continental framework of principles and rules for the promotion, protection, and liberation of foreign investment.  African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) Congress scheduled from 7-9 May in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. 

Conference/Seminar Organisation and Presentations

• Speaker- " Protecting Africa's Land: Africa's Sovereignty?" on 16 June 2024, organised by the Beyond Africa Podcast
• Speaker- “Roundtable on the Rules-Based International Order - challenges and benefits” on Friday, 16 February 2024, organised by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL)
• Speaker - The British Institute of International and Comparative Law event: on “Thematic Perspectives on the Rules-Based International Order and Public International Law” (Monday 18 March 2024 Time: 09:00-12:00)
• CRiL Seminar Series 2024: “Contemporary Issues in International Dispute Resolution”  (convenors: Dr Ana Harvey and Dr Oke Ejims). The list of seminars is available on the CRiL website [PDF]
• Convenor- 'Africa and Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Current Challenges and the Path Forward' 14 June 2023 at the 2022-23 Centre for Research in Law seminar series, University of Bedfordshire. Mr Mouhamed Kebe, Managing Partner Geni & Kebe, Dakar, Senegal.
• Convenor- 'Cultural Relativism, the Values of Eastern Civilisations and the Universality of Human Rights' 10 May 2023 at the 2022-23 Centre for Research in Law seminar series, University of Bedfordshire. Prof. Surya Subedi, OBE, KC, Professor of International Law, University of Leeds Law School.
• Convenor- 'The tragedy of International Environmental Law-Where Next?' 8 March 2023 at the 22-23 Centre for Research in Law seminar series, University of Bedfordshire- Dr Stephen Turner, Senior Lecturer/Co-director Postgraduate Research Essex Law School and Human Rights Centre.
• Convenor- 'The Essence of Fundamental Rights in UK Public Law'- 29 March 2023 at the 2022-23 Center for Research in Law seminar series, University of Bedfordshire- Dr Darren Harvey, Lecturer in Law, School of Law, Kings College London.
• Speaker- ‘African Union Investment Law and Climate Change’ at the Sixth African International Economic Law Network Biennial Conference on 21-24 June 2023.
• Speaker “COVID-19 AND THE LAW” at the University of Westminster Research Café on 5 November 2020
• Speaker- “Public Health Provisions in the Landscape of Investment Law in Africa: A Study of Public Health Provisions in the Pan-African Investment Code” at the Fourth African International Economic Law Network Biennial Conference on 18-20 July 2019.
• Speaker -“The 2016 Morocco-Nigeria Bilateral Investment Treaty: More Practical Reality in Providing a Balanced Investment Treaty?” at the Centre for Business Law and Practice, School of Law University of Leeds on October 30 2018.
• Convenor- Conference on A ‘Clause Celebre’: Investor-State Arbitration Mechanism at the Centre for Business Law and Practice, School of Law University of Leeds on April 27 2017.
• Speaker- “Minority Rights with Reference to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Right to Development” at Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences London South Bank University 8th March 2010.
• Speaker- “The Human Rights Impact of International Investment Law” at Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences London South Bank University 28th March 2011
• Speaker- Conference on Africa and International Arbitration Law: Taking Stock and Moving Forward at Albany Law School from April 12-14, 2012.
• Speaker- “International Law on Foreign Investment and Indigenous peoples” at the Graduate Students Seminar Series in the University of Leeds School of International Governance 1st November 2020

Contact Details

E: oke.ejims@beds.ac.uk