Dorothy Udeme Ufot, SAN is the founding partner of Dorothy Ufot & Co. a leading law firm in Nigeria specialising in dispute resolution, enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, investment consulting, contracts and commercial law, where she heads the International Arbitration and Litigation departments of the firm.
Dorothy is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators London, and a Chartered Arbitrator. She is a Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris (since 2006), a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, a member of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, and a member of the ICC Task Force on the Implementation of the New York Convention. She is the Vice- Chairman of the Arbitration Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce Nigerian National Committee and also the treasurer of the ICCN.Dorothy has been appointed vice-president of the ICC Arbitration and ADR Commission in Paris effective 1st January, 2014.
Dorothy is a former Vice-Chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee, a former member of the Council of the Legal Practice Division of the IBA and currently a member of the Nominations Committee of the IBA. She is on the panels of arbitrators of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA), the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the Lagos Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (LRCICA), and the Energy Arbitrator’s List.
Dorothy has over 24 years experience in commercial litigation and was elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, in 2009 in recognition of her vast work in commercial litigation. Dorothy has acted as an arbitrator in several complex high volume arbitrations in oil & gas, international construction projects, dredging Contracts, infrastructure developments projects, joint ventures, telecommunications, international supply contracts and financial services, to mention a few.
She has been appointed as an arbitrator by major multinational oil corporations, the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, State Governments, Federal Government Agencies, large and medium-sized public and private companies in arbitrations taking place in Europe and Africa. She is a former director of Chevron Oil Nigeria PLC, MRS Oil Nigeria PLC and also a former member of the Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange where she chaired the Rules and Adjudication Committee.
Dorothy has consistently been ranked by the International Who’s Who of commercial arbitration since 2009 as one of the world’s leading experts in international commercial arbitration. She is the author of the GAR’s International Arbitration Know-How Nigeria Chapter which can be viewed at GAR’s website at:
http://www.globalarbitrationreview.com/knowhow/topics/61jurisdiction/18/nigeria
She is also the author of the International Law Office’s (ILO) legal updates on International Arbitration, Nigeria chapter, which can also be viewed at the ILO’s website at http://www.internationallawoffice.com/newletters/details.aspx?r=25386
Dorothy is a regular speaker at international and local conferences on oil & gas, international arbitration and professional ethics particularly at the IBA, NBA, and the Institute of Transnational Arbitration Texas USA.She is a member inter alia of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the International Bar Association (IBA) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), to mention a few.
