Mr. Okechukwu Ejims

Senior Lecturer in Law

I joined the University of Bedfordshire School of Accounting, Finance, and Law as a Senior Lecturer in Law in February 2022. I am the LLB law programme lead and I teach varied International Economic and Commercial Law and foundation of legal knowledge modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I also supervise postgraduate dissertation students and PhD research students.

I am currently serving as chief examiner and tutor on the World Trade and International Investment Law modules at the University of London (QMUL/UCL) LLM degree in International Economic Law.

Before joining the University of Bedfordshire School of Law, I was a lecturer at the University of Leeds and Westminster, where I taught and coordinated International Economic and Commercial Law modules.

I qualified as a barrister and solicitor in Nigeria in 2003 and I am a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators London. I have over 15 years multi- jurisdictional experience as a lawyer. I have practiced law in firms in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

I obtained an LLM in Corporate and Commercial Law from the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London in 2005 and a PhD from The University of Leeds in 2009, in which I specialised in International Investment Law.

Having obtained a PhD in International Economic Law, my field of research interests are World Trade and Investment Law, in which I have published widely in.

In addition to my role as a lecturer and researcher, I have experience in investment treaty making when I was invited as an expert member of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa advisory group that provided policy recommendations for a balanced investment treaty in Africa, which informed the negotiations of the AFCFTA Investment Protocol.

Subsequently, From December 2021 to March 2022, I was invited as an expert member to the United Nations Economic Commission For Africa (ECA)’s Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional Integration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology. The aim was to provide recommendations for accelerating African economic development through innovative investment policies, which resulted in the Report on the second session of the Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional Integration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology.

I am currently a member of the expert group of the OECD Investment Committee Secretariat on investment treaties and climate change, I am engaging and participating in policy advice and formation. The OECD Committee on investment treaties and climate change is a project that aims to address investment treaties and climate change. I am also a member of the UNCTAD Multi-Stakeholder Platform on IIA Reform. I am engaging to expedite the reform of the IIA regime.