The unique view that lawyers get of the truth behind notable events sparked a passion for dispute resolution in Hamid Abdulkareem that’s seen the Nigerian lawyer grow into a leader in the international arbitration community.
“As a lawyer you get to ascertain what exactly the facts are, and they often tend to be quite different from what’s in the public domain,” says Hamid, a London-based counsel for leading international arbitration firm Three Crowns LLP. “I found this very fascinating in my early days at University”.
This “admittedly nerdy take” on the world while at the University of Ilorin led to him pursuing a very successful practice in dispute resolution, specialising in international arbitration.
He has witnessed remarkable change in the West African dispute resolution landscape.
“When I started my career in 2008, there were significant disputes coming out of the Nigerian petroleum industry,” says Hamid, noting that those disputes raised complex issues, such as the application of stabilisation clauses, and the arbitrability of tax-related contractual disputes.
“Back then, most practitioners were coming into those types of disputes for the first time”, says Hamid. The courts were not left out of the learning curve, as “the limits of court intervention in arbitral proceedings were tested like never before.”
Fast forward a decade and a half, the terrain has changed, says Hamid.
Nowadays, African practitioners and States have become more sophisticated players, benefiting from greater exposure to complex disputes. “Ultimately, I think the awareness that – via international arbitration – contractual breaches can lead to significant repercussions promotes more effective contract governance especially on the part of States or their related entities.”
One of the biggest lessons Hamid says he’d share with young African lawyers is to build their networks, as you never know where various contacts can lead.
“Some of the best things in life are happenstance,” says Hamid. “I was attending the Singapore International Arbitration Academy in 2015, and while there, I sought a meeting with a leading Singaporean arbitration practitioner. A year later, she asked if I was interested in the work of the IBA. I wasn’t even an IBA member at that time; that’s how my journey began.”
Hamid was appointed to the Steering Committee of Arb40, the under-40 arm of the IBA Arbitration Committee, the first of many leadership roles to flourish from that seed planted in 2015.
He now co-chairs the IBA Arbitration Committee’s Africa Group, having previously served as co-chair of the Insolvency and Arbitration Workgroup. Hamid also currently serves on the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration's Executive Committee, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Lagos Court of Arbitration’s Young Arbitrators Network.
Hamid believes African lawyers would benefit from getting involved in the work of the IBA’s Arbitration Committee: “for the exposure you’ll get, the opportunities to build international relationships” and to “contribute to thought leadership and the creation of soft law instruments that will be used by practitioners across the world”.
Hamid adds a further lesson for young lawyers: recognise that wherever you are in your career, you can add value. He’s seen big cases turn on seemingly small points picked up by juniors. Do not lose sight of the opportunities that exist around you, he says.
“There’s a place in the profession for all of us.”