Dr. Eyimofe Atake SAN

Senior Partner

Dr. Eyimofe Atake SAN
Position & Rank:
Senior Partner & Senior Advocate of Nigeria
Practice Areas:
Dispute Resolution, Transport Law, Energy and Natural Resources, Environmental issues, Arbitration and Commercial Litigation
Call To The Bar:
July 1983
Email:
eyimofe.atake@eyimofeatake.com

Profile

Dr. Eyimofe Atake SAN is Senior Partner. He was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in July 1983. He is the founder of the Law Firm Eyimofe Atake & Co. having set it up in 1988. He specializes in Dispute Resolution, Transport Law, Energy and Natural Resources, Environmental issues, Arbitration and commercial litigation. In about 12 years of being in law practice and setting up of the Law Firm, he took Silk becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1999. He is author of a leading work on Contempt of Court.

He has been involved in very complex litigation and has helped several clients navigate through stormy waters. He has represented over a period of 38 years several Multinational Corporations, International Oil Companies (IOCs), several Protection and Indemnity Clubs belonging to the International Group of Clubs, Ship Owners, and high net worth clients.

He has been described as  “one of the country’s most specialised shipping lawyers…”. In the field of shipping, the Law Firm and Dr. Atake ‘have and still represent several Protection and Indemnity Clubs that belong to the International Group of Clubs. …”. Legal 500.

It has been stated of him that  “Eyimofe Atake’s rise to his present height in the legal profession is a classic example of the small acorn growing into the giant oak tree”.

Eyimofe Atake has handled and argued contentious cases especially in the field of Maritime/Admiralty Law, Constitutional, Corporate and Commercial Law at all levels of the courts including contested appeals both in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He is renowned for his commitment, insight and persuasive advocacy and has been involved in several landmark cases. Apart from a good reputation in litigation, he helps to resolve disputes proficiently and commendably.

Experience

  • Atake SAN successfully persuaded a Nigerian Court be moved to New York to hear proceedings and take the vital evidence of some citizens of the United States who were too ill to travel to Nigeria in a $28,174,646,400 Trademark and Patents case against Exxon Mobil. The Judge agreed with him and proceedings were moved to New York. It was the first time in the history of Nigerian legal jurisprudence that a Court was moved to a foreign land to hear proceedings. That case received a lot of coverage in the Nigerian and international press. He successfully led a team of several lawyers that led to the dismissal of the case at the Federal High Court, The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
  • In an Admiralty Case on behalf of a Protection and Indemnity Club in the International Group of Clubs, he convinced the Supreme Court of Nigeria to hold for the first time that, a case that has been discontinued and struck out, did not prevent a Judge from making consequential orders, where it is established that, the Plaintiff who discontinued the case has abused the legal process by using the process of the court to gain unmerited advantages over the defendant, to the detriment of that Defendant.
  • In a Constitutional Case with a full bench of seven Justices, he convinced the Supreme Court of Nigeria also for the first time in Nigerian legal jurisprudence, to hold that a Judicial Officer who has seized to be one could appear for himself in person in a court of law rather than being represented by counsel and that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria did not place such a bar on a judicial officer who has seized to be one. The Supreme Court of Nigeria reversed the decision of the lower Court that held that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria bars a person who has held judicial office from acting for himself in a court of law.
  • In an Admiralty case claiming port dues of $3,166,690 and other charges and costs brought by the Nigeria Ports PLC, Dr. Atake SAN took the instructions of a Protection and Indemnity Club and a ship owner. He successfully persuaded the Court to hold that a vessel under arrest should not pay port charges or dues. That was the first time such a decision was so held by a Court of Law. Hitherto, vessels under arrest were subject to paying port charges or dues. The Nigerian Ports PLC appealed the Decision. The appeal was still pending when the major gains of that decision led to the amendment of the Port Act with a provision that was unmistakable in its pronouncement that a vessel under arrest is liable to pay port charges and dues.
  • In another landmark Admiralty case on behalf of a Protection and Indemnity Club in the International Group of Clubs, he convinced an appellate court to hold for the first time in Nigerian Legal Jurisprudence, that a vessel can only be arrested if at the time the action is brought, the relevant person (that is to say, the person who would be liable had the action been brought in personam) is the beneficial owner with respects to all the shares in the vessel or the charter of the vessel under a charter by demise.
  • Atake SAN successfully defended Stonebridge Oil Ltd and the Cargo of petroleum products on board the MT April in a huge claim against Stonebridge Oil for an alleged breach of a charter party.
  • Successfully defended a substantial claim before the Federal High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria against a Turkish Vessel on the instruction of the Development Bank of Turkey.
  • Successfully defended Mobil Nigeria Unlimited in respect of an action brought against its enormous Crude Oil Terminal in the High Court and Court of Appeal.
  • Successfully defended a huge claim against a shipowner on the instruction of a Protection and Indemnity Club in the International Group of Clubs and succeeded on the considerable counterclaim against the Claimants.
  • Represented Exxon Mobil and successfully defended a claim against them for breach of contract in the sum $138,000,000 for engineering, procurement and construction works and activities in respect of some specific contract terms.
  • Successfully defended several oil spill and environmental disputes and in some cases resolved them amicably on behalf of an International Oil Company.
  • Led a team of lawyers in the Court of Appeal on the instruction of Esso Exploration and Shell in the enforcement of an award in arbitration proceedings in which the appeal was allowed in part.
  • Led the team of lawyers for Eyimofe Atake & Co. on behalf of Mobil Producing Nigeria in arbitration proceedings for a claim of $680,000,000 for breach of contract.
  • Defended successfully a huge claim against the MV “Vali P” on the instruction of a Protection and Indemnity Club at the Court of Appeal.

Dr. Atake SAN is known for his extensive work on Privatisation in the 1990s and wrote comprehensively on the Legal Aspects of Privatisation during the exercise in Nigeria in the 1990s.

He served in the sub-committee of the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC) that privatised the Nigerian Fish Company. As a result of his extensive writings in the press and comments on television, he was invited to deliver and delivered the Public Lecture on the Legal Aspects of Privatisation and Commercialisation at the International Conference organized by the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC) in 1990.

Education

  • He was educated at an independent boarding school for boys Copford College, Copford, Colchester, where he was a School Prefect, House Captain, Athletics and Table Tennis Captain and played Soccer and Rugby for the school.
  • He was also educated at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Darwin College, University of Cambridge where he earned a doctorate degree in Law in 1987 with a thesis Contempt in The Face of The Court and The Procedure for Committal under the supervision of Professor Sir David Williams QC. His PhD thesis delivered in Cambridge early in 1987 formed the basis for a book Contempt in The Face of The Court (1992) with a comparative and critical analysis of the jurisdictions of England and Wales, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Nigeria.
  • Eyimofe Atake attended the Hague Academy of International Law (1980 and 1981) and studied International Law under the guidance of Professor Dame Rosalyn Higgins QC, while at the London School of Economics and wrote an LL.M dissertation under her supervision – Is restitution an appropriate remedy for taking of foreign property in contemporary International Law?

Dr. Atake SAN is a past President of the Oxford and Cambridge Club of Nigeria (2002-2006).

 Selected Writings

  • Contempt in the Face of the Court (Book) (1992)
  • Before We Privatise (1) The Guardian, Wednesday, February 22, 1989, 10.
  • Before We Privatise (2), The Guardian, Thursday, February 23, 1989, 11.
  • Privatisation and The Law (1), The Guardian, Tuesday, September 13, 1988, 11.
  • Privatisation and The Law (11), The Guardian, Wednesday, September 14, 1988, 13.
  • Privatisation, Commercialisation and Decree No. 25 of 1988, The Financial Post, June 11, 1989, 38.
  • The Legal Aspects of the Implementation of the Privatisation and Commercialisation Programmes (Chapter) in H. R. Zayyad’s Economic Democratisation (TCPC, Lagos, 1992).
  • Between the Executive and The Legislature Excerpts from a paper delivered by Dr. Eyimofe Atake, SAN at a workshop on Public Accounts and Democracy organized by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, THISDAY, The Sunday Newspaper, March 12, 2000, 38, 39.
  • Contempt in The Face of The Court – Mike Okoye’s Case THISDAY, Vol. 8, No. 2522, Tuesday, March 19, 2002, 30, 42, 43
  • Supreme Court and the Allegation of Corruption, (Guest Columnist), THISDAY, Vol. 11, no. 3726, Tuesday, July 5, 2005, 51.
  • National Assembly Can Raise Budget Estimates (Guest Columnist – Back Page), THISDAY, Vol. 6, No. 1856, Monday, May 22, 2000, 56.
  • Disqualification in Contempt Cases, SUNDAY TIMES, 25 March 1990, at 12-14.
  • Attorney-General’s Advice to the Inspector General of Police, Curious. Extraordinary ThisDay, Vol. 10, NO. 2201, Tuesday, January 27, 2004, 45, 46.
  • Can These Men Re-Contest the Governorship THISDAY, Tuesday October 9, 2001.
  • Taslim Elias: The Exit of a Genius, Sunday Times August 25, 1991, 27.
  • T O Elias: An Appreciation, The Guardian, Wednesday, September 4, 1991.
  • Elegy to a Judge and Senator (1) THISDAY, vol. 9, no. 2900, Tuesday, April 1, 2003, 41.
  • Elegy to a Judge and Senator (2) THISDAY, vol. 9, no. 2907, Tuesday, April 8, 2003, 48.
  • G.O.K Ajayi: An Appreciation ThisDay Tuesday 20 May 2014.
  • ’Folake Solanke: First Female Silk @85, THISDAY, 11 April 2017, 14.
  • Frank Odunayo Akinrele, SAN 1930-2018: An Appreciation, ThisDay 1 January 2019.