With Indo-Nigerian trade now topping $10billion annually, there is greater potential for bilateral relations between Nigeria and India, Senior Partner of Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL) Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) said on Monday.

He spoke at a briefing on his firm’s partnership with Capstone Legal, a dispute resolution and corporate advisory law firm in India.

The collaboration is structured in the form of a Best Friends Agreement (BFA)/Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Both firms expect to attract and provide legal services to new clients in their respective jurisdictions and beyond.

It is arguably the first tie-up between a Nigerian and an Indian law firm to collaboratively provide legal services involving multiple jurisdictions.

Agbakoba said: “The synergy between the two leading law firms of Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL) and Capstone Legal is a very significant development in the context of growing Indo-Nigerian trade and bilateral relations which is now topping US$10 Billion annually.”

According to him, the partnership will benefit companies from both nationalities that have business interests in Nigeria and India and for companies who want to enter the respective markets.

Capstone Legal, with leading global companies among its clients, is considered one of the fastest-growing law firms in India.

Its Managing Partner Vagish Kumar Singh said: “For us, a tie-up with OAL strengthens our international practice and we believe that there is a need for quality legal services involving a combination of Nigerian and Indian law.”

OAL is one of Nigeria’s largest law firms with practice areas that cut across dispute resolution/arbitration, debt recovery and insolvency, commercial litigation, maritime law, development and public interest law, sports, entertainment and technology, regulatory and compliance and international disputes.

Capstone Legal was set up in 2012 by two National Law School of India University (NLSIU) alumni and specialises in crossborder disputes, execution of arbitral awards and corporate advisory.