Executive Director

Dr. Demola Okeowo, LL.B (OOU), BL (Abuja), LL.M (Groningen), LL.M (Queen’s), Ph.D. (UBC)

Dr. Demola Okeowo, Ph.D., founded the Legal Magnates & Company in June 2003. He is now the Executive Director of the Legal Magnates International and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and President of the Legal Magnates International Foundation. He also practices law in the areas of business immigration and employment law at MuritonRose Law Firm. Dr. Okeowo is also an Adjunct Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Vancouver, Canada.

Dr. Okeowo completed his doctoral (Ph.D.) degree in law at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (UBC). Born and raised in Nigeria, he obtained his LL.B degree from Olabisi Onabanjo University graduating as the overall best student with several academic prizes and awards. Academically, he was among the top 2% of his set at the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2006. Dr. Okeowo is also a member of both the Bar of British Columbia and the Vancouver Bar Association, Canada. He worked at both the Abuja and Lagos offices of a boutique law firm in Nigeria before embarking on peripatetic graduate studies. He holds two Masters degrees (LL.M) in law from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands and Queen’s University, Canada respectively. After completing his graduate program at Queen’s and over the course of his doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia, he has had the opportunity of working as a Senior Legal & Compliance Officer in an energy company based in Ontario, Canada.

While at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Dr. Okeowo was actively involved in student organizations and initiatives including being the President of the Law Students Society (LSS). His tenure as the LSS President was marked by several innovations and achievements all of which are widely acknowledged as remarkable in the history of that association – past and present. In that position, he demonstrated his leadership and administrative skills earning him respect and commendations by the then Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. The former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Lawal Uwais, and the late retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Justice Kayode Eso, have all commended Dr. Okeowo’s leadership skills. Same is true of the late retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Moronkeji Onalaja, retired Justice Lambe Arasi, and other highly placed societal figures in politics and the legal profession who have recognized him as an excellent leader.

Dr. Okeowo participated in several local and international mooting competitions including the Jessup Moots, the African Human Rights Moots and the 14th Inter-American Human Rights Moot Competition at the American University Washington College of Law, USA. He was a Student Editor of the Review of European Administrative Law Journal of the University of Groningen and an Associate Editor of the Queen’s Law Journal. He was a volunteer Judge for the UBC Jessup Moots from 2013 – 2017 and was also a teaching assistant at UBC Law teaching Criminal Law. Dr. Okeowo summered and articled at one of the leading big Canadian law firms – positions that are extremely competitive and rarely offered to international graduate students.

Dr. Okeowo has published a book. He also authors several journal articles. He is the recipient of several national and international awards including the Charles Bourne International Law Scholarship, Federal Government of Nigeria Scholarship Award, the Law Foundation of Ontario Award and the British Columbia Law Foundation Fellowship. In 2013, he was selected through a competitive process as a Future Leader and inducted as an Associate of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative.

He has presented scholarly papers at several local and international conferences in Greece and Ireland and has attended short courses in Tanzania, Hungary, Italy and France. He has also visited Switzerland and Belgium for research purposes. He conducted a legal research fieldwork in Geneva, Switzerland where he interviewed representatives of Australia, Germany, Kenya, Norway, Switzerland, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. He also had the singular honour of conducting an exclusive interview with the Envoy of the Chairmanship of the defunct Nansen Initiative and current Envoy of the Chairmanship of the Platform on Disaster Displacement (“PDD”), Professor Walter Kaelin. In addition, Dr. Okeowo had the privilege of sitting in a high-powered diplomatic meeting of over 109 countries in Geneva, Switzerland in the fall of 2015 where States adopted an international document for the recognition and protection of climate change “refugees”. In recognition of his research interests in climate change and environmental displacement, the Steering Committee of the PDD in Geneva, Switzerland which is currently chaired by Bangladesh and comprising of 18 States (including Canada), and the European Union recently appointed him as a Member of its Advisory Committee. 

During his spare time, Dr. Okeowo enjoys singing, drumming, playing the keyboard, and going to the movies. He is happily married to Abiola, and they have three children, Kiki, Sam, and Alex.