Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti

Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti (Akin) is an Assistant Professor of law at the University of Manitoba. He earned his LLB from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, in 2012 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2013. He practiced law in a full-service commercial law firm for three years before starting his graduate studies. Akin earned his LLM and Ph.D. degrees in 2017 and 2022, respectively, at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. His Ph.D. thesis is titled “Africa’s Contribution to the Development of the Norm of Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights.” Akin’s research primarily focuses on business and human rights, international investment law, transnational dispute resolution, and private international law. 

Before joining Robson Hall, Akin was an Assistant Professor and Crawford Fellow at the Schulich School of Law. He joined the teaching faculty at Schulich Law as a professor in 2019. He taught first and upper-year courses, including contracts, professional responsibility, business and human rights, and legal ethics. He has received many awards, including the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia entrance scholarship, the Dean Ronald St. John MacDonald Graduate Fellowship in Law, the Schulich Fellowship, and the Crawford Fellowship.

Akin is a lawyer in Nigeria, Manitoba, Nova Scotia (non-practicing), Canada. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Association of Certified Anti-money Laundering Specialists. 

• Why the Multilateral Investment Court is a Bad Idea for Africa (2024) 47:1 Dalhousie Law Journal (forthcoming).
• “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Towards Access to Justice for Local Communities in Investor-State Arbitration or Business and Human Rights Arbitration” (2022) 59:3 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 707.
• “Localizing the UNGPs—An Afrocentric Approach to Interpreting Pillar II” (2022) 0:0 Business and Human Rights Journal 1.
• “Normative Role of The ECOWAS Court of Justice in Transnational Corporate Accountability” (2022) 13:2 The Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy 53.
• “Procedure: The Handmaid of Justice- An Analysis of the Dissenting Judgement of Honourable Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim in Osude V Azode” (2021) 5:1 The Appellate Review Journal 1.
• “Separating the Wheat from the Chaff—The Role of Separability in Delimiting Public Policy’s Influence on Arbitrability of Disputes in Africa” (2019) 10:1 The Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy 104.
• “The Hague Principles – A New Dawn for Developing Countries?” (2017) 35:4 Netherlands Journal of Private International Law, NIPR 1.  

Book Chapters and Reviews

• Sara L Seck & Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Accountability – Legal Risk, Remedies and Damages” in Rae Lindsay & Roger Martella, eds, Corporate Social Responsibility – The Corporate Governance of the 21st Century (Kluwer Law International, 2020).
• ‘Sina Sofola, SAN (QC), Akinwumi Ogunranti & Osaserhe Uhunmwagho – “Theories of Judicial Decision-Making: Formalism and A Theoretical Response” in Demola Okeowo, ed, Trailblazer: A Selection of Essays and Papers in Celebration of Chief Folake Solanke, SAN, CON (Lagos: Legal Magnates, 2019).
• Book Review (2020), Business and Human Rights Journal: Dalia Palombo, Business and Human Rights: The Obligations of the European Homes States (Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, 2019).
   

• Schulich Fellowship Award
• Purdy Crawford Fellowship Award 
• Schulich School of Law Graduate Scholarship Award- Law Foundation of Nova Scotia 
• Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarships
• Dean Ronald St. John MacDonald Graduate Fellowship in Law
• George Caines Graduate Scholarship