Oba Nsugbe KC was called to the Bar in 1985 by Gray’s Inn and elected a Master of the Bench in 2004. Oba has invested his time to support various aspects of the Inn’s Education programme including delivering advocacy training.
Oba has extensive criminal law experience and is appointed as a Recorder (a part time judge). He has a broad international practice, focussing on Africa related litigation and dispute resolution, and is qualified to practise in both the UK and Nigeria.
“Even as a Member, it is easy to feel like a stranger in the Inn until someone more established takes a genuinely supportive interest, welcomes you in and makes you feel at home. For me that person was Sir Iain Glidewell (Treasurer at the time) and his wife Lady Hilary Glidewell. Their kindness and down to earth sense of boundless humanity allowed me to gradually shake off the “imposter syndrome” and come to love the Inn. So much so that for 15 years we lived here very happily as a family in Verulam Buildings. Our children will never forget running free in the Walks with their friends, and I will never forget the warmth shown to us by the Glidewells. The Inn is of course a unique space, but it is the people that bring it to life. The responsibility we all share is to pass on that warm welcome and nurture the life of the Inn”.
- Extended Bio
Oba Nsugbe KC was appointed a Recorder in 1999 and took silk in 2002. In 2005 he was appointed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and in 2007 he became Head of Pump Court Chambers in the Temple.
Oba provides high-level advice and representation for individuals, corporate clients and other organisations, (including NGOs), in matters ranging from business crime and corrupt practices to contractual and corporate disputes. Oba has also provided expert advice and evidence on issues of Nigerian law to a wide range of institutional, corporate and individual clients ranging from the Treasury Solicitors to leading City firms and business entrepreneurs.
He is Founder and Past Chair of the British Nigeria Law Forum, and from 2006 to 2010 was Legal Advisor to Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (CANUK). He has held roles as Legal Assessor for the General Medical Council, Legal Assessor to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and Legal Assessor to the General Pharmaceutical Council. In 2010 he was appointed a visiting Professor of Law at City University.
He is incredibly passionate about the arts and a trustee of the Yinka Shonibare Foundation and “New Creators”. He is Chair of The Africa Centre, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and was previously a member of the Tate African Arts Acquisition Committee.