The initiative will bring UK and Nigerian legal professionals together to share knowledge, skills and legal expertise and highlight the advantages of UK legal services to wider business growth. The move is the latest stage of the Ministry of Justice’s ambitious ‘Legal Services are GREAT’ campaign, which aims to promote the strength and breadth of the UK’s legal offer across the globe. The announcement was made as Mrs May visited the securities exchange company FMDQ in Lagos, and is part of a wider government drive to deepen its partnerships with African nations. Lord Chancellor David Gauke said: ‘Our legal services sector is one of the UK’s greatest exports, and we want it to remain at the very heart of our future as a global, outward-looking, free-trading Britain. We launched the Legal Services are GREAT campaign, to showcase the very best of what the UK’s legal services sector has to offer around the globe, and I’m delighted that we are now extending the campaign to Nigeria.’

Maximising potential

In 2018, five of the world’s fastest-growing economies are African and the continent’s total GDP could well double between 2015 and 2030. The British government is keen to support UK law firms and chambers to maximise the potential of this emerging market. A delegation of legal representatives will visit Nigeria later in the year to meet counterparts and create new business opportunities. The Legal Services are Great campaign was launched by Lord Keen in Singapore last year and has already delivered trade delegations to Kazakhstan and China. The campaign promotes the UK’s £24 billion legal services sector overseas, showcasing the very best of what the UK’s legal services sector has to offer and helping to bring new business to the UK for our legal firms, chambers and courts.