By: Daniel Echoda
Nafisat Adebusola Ogunsesan and Olamilekan Olamide Adebanjo both law students at the University of Ibadan made it to the top 10 out of many entries received from several universities across Nigeria for the 2021 edition of the SimmonsCooper Advocacy Development (SCAD) competition. The top 10, which were selected from the Brief Writing stage, moved to the Oral Advocacy stage which was held at the Yemi Osinbajo Wing, 9th Floor, Fortune Towers, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Saturday, 25 September, 2021.
The contest saw Bada Oladunni Ikenna, a student at the University of Lagos, Igweonu Chidera, a student at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, and Alao Omeiza Joshua of the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, emerge first, second and third positions respectively. Nafisat and Olamilekan came 6th and 8th in that order.
The first, second and third position gained an internship slot at SimmonsCooper Partners, and received cash prizes of N1, 000, 000, N500, 000, and N250, 000 respectively; while the others received N50, 000 each.
Each entry at the initial Brief Writing stage of the competition was subject to multiple levels of strict and rigorous tests and reviews based on merit. The writers of the shortlisted entries were then invited for the Oral Advocacy stage where each participant presented their entries.
The SimmonsCooper Advocacy Development Programme (SCAD) is an initiative conceived by SimmonsCooper Partners (SCP), a law firm, during the leadership of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), who at the time was a senior partner at the firm. Its aim is to help law undergraduates and students of the Nigerian Law School develop the skills of writing, legal analysis, research, and advocacy.
