Emilia ONYEMA

Emilia Onyema is an independent arbitrator with experience as presiding, co and sole arbitrator, and acts as legal expert witness in international arbitration. She is a Professor of International Commercial Law at SOAS University of London where she teaches international commercial arbitration, international investment law and commercial law in a global context. She is qualified to practice law in Nigeria, as a Solicitor in England & Wales, and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She convenes the SOAS Arbitration in Africa conference series, leads the SOAS Arbitration in Africa biennial survey research project, co-authored the African Promise; conceived the SOAS counsel in arbitration training project; and is the Director of the SOAS Arbitration and Dispute Resolution centre.

She actively publishes and speaks on topics relevant to her research interests. Some of her publications include, International Commercial Arbitration and the Arbitrator’s Contract (Routledge, 2010); Rethinking the Role of African National Courts in Arbitration (Kluwer, 2018), “African Participation in the ICSID System: Appointment and Disqualification of Arbitrators”, ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law Journal (2020), and “Reimagining the Framework for resolving Intra-African Commercial Disputes in the Context of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement”, World Trade Review (2019).