TEAM

MEET THE TEAM

Faith Obafemi, Emerging Tech Lawyer, Researcher & Rapporteur

Faith Obafemi is a tech lawyer with a focus on blockchain, cryptocurrency and emerging technologies. Faith brings six years of legal expertise to help projects navigate the crypto-regulations and compliance maze. She does this through her consulting outfit: Future-Proof Intelligence (FINT) where she serves as Head of Strategy. She presented on 'Decentralized Governance: The Future of Global Cooperation?' at the 10th Annual Cambridge International Law Conference, which held online 18-20 March 2021. Faith is a 2021 Tech Policy Fellow at the Tony Blair Institute. She is a 2022 TechWomen Emerging Leader.

As an aspiring legal engineer/technologist, she automates legal documents, integrated with smart contracts, on the OpenLaw, a platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. Faith is a Research Fellow at the African Academic Network on Internet Policy (AANOIP), where she makes in-depth research on the intricacies in blockchain and law. Faith is a Decentralized Justice Fellow with Kleros, a decentralized justice platform, where she is researching on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) on the blockchain and recommending Kleros as a dispute resolution layer. She is Faculty at Africa Blockchain Institute (ABI), where she facilitates the Blockchain for Legal Professionals course.

Faith is also a digital content writer and has written several informative and engaging articles on topics in emerging technologies for major online global magazines. She has spoken at events; Blockchain Week Workshop Lagos, African Women in Tech 2018 Nairobi, re:publica Accra, including ConsenSys, BlockTech Women and CoinFest sponsored events. She has been featured on the cover page of Legal Business World, an international magazine for lawyers. Other features include CoinDesk; Fortune, an Italian Magazine; Coin Rivet; Africa Legal; Yahoo Finance; and several other prints and electronic publications. She is on the list of top 20 African blockchain influencers to follow on Twitter in 2019. She is also on the list of top 50 African LegalTech Innovators 2020.

Currently, Faith spends her free time solidifying her knowledge in smart contracts programming to prepare her as a Legal Engineer in tomorrow’s smart automated world.

"Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent." - Jimmy Carter. Coming from an overburdened Indian legal background, I believe in advocating the substance of ADR at both commercial and domestic levels, composing a win-win situation for all parties.

Graduated from the University of Manchester with a Merit in LLM degree specializing in Transnational Dispute Resolution, I focused my academic course work on the sale of goods and achieved a distinction and a merit in Corporate and capital markets, Arbitration and mediation and dissertation on "Critical Examination on the Appeals and Challenge Procedures of arbitral awards in International Commercial Arbitration". I am particularly interested in law and businesses' role in expanding access and use of Alternative dispute resolution models.

During my course period at the University of Manchester, I volunteered as the student legal advisor at the UoM Legal Centre. I was first introduced to legal technologies while working in the legal Centre; I found myself engulfed in the efficiency of legal tech and numerous possibilities to advance legal services. I also took part in several volunteering workshops in collaboration with the student Union and International societies.

I have worked as an intern at different ligation law chambers at district and high courts and as a law clerk at Hon'ble Family Court cum-5th Additional District Court, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, over the course of 5 years in my undergraduate.

While working through my internships, I realized the impact of alternative dispute resolution methods and the power it holds to change the working of the judiciary. The next thing I know, I found myself in a Transnational dispute resolution specialization LLM. Ultimately I intend to work at Law firms and international tribunals dealing with arbitration and mediation and as a legal technologist. An enthusiastic law graduate willing to learn and grow within an organization allows me to explore.

<Interests> I enjoy researching and writing about law, particularly in contemporary legal issues, medical laws, commercial, competition laws and well, of course, arbitration and mediation. Legal Technologies enthusiast. Believes in environmental care and protection.

Ravikant Rai, Contract & Privacy Lawyer | Tech Consultant | Data Protection Analyst | Legal Writer

Greetings from a registered lawyer from the Delhi High Court, this is Ravikant from the capital of India. Specialized legal consultant in various fields like cyber law, technology law, Intellectual Property Rights, corporate law, alongwith being a seasoned technical and corporate writer.

My work experiences includes working with Blockchain, Fintech, Technology Legal Contracts, Draft Agreements such as Software licensing, License to Use, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Software Development, Cloud Computing Service Agreement, Data Security, Confidentiality, Data Protection, Shareholders, Founders Agreement, etc.

I live by the phrase 'You grow through what you go through'