2011 Executive Officers

Abayomi O. Ajaiyeoba, President

Abayomi O. Ajaiyeoba (“Yomi”) is a Deputy Managing Attorney and Administrative Law Judge with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings/New York City Environmental Control Board ("OATH/ECB) where she works under the direction of the Managing Attorney to direct the legal operation of the administrative tribunal, including, but not limited to, managing staff productivity and acting as a legal advisor to administrative personnel. Ms. Ajaiyeoba is a certified mediator, arbitrator, and adjunct professor at Touro College. Ms. Ajaiyeoba graduated from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in May 2004, where she was an associate editor of the Race and the Law Review, member of the Moot Court Board, clinician with the Community Development Clinic and provided pro bono services to the Domestic Violence Project. In addition, Ms. Ajaiyeoba interned with the Honorable Debra A. James, New York Supreme Court Justice. She received her B.A. from Connecticut College, graduating cum laude with distinction in Psychology and a Helen Lehman Buttenweiser scholar.

She started her legal career at the New York City Law Department, where she served as an Assistant Corporation Counsel in the Administrative Law Division and is admitted to the New York State Bar, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

She serves as the Secretary of the Association of Black Women Attorneys ("ABWA"), and is a member of the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, Brooklyn Bar Association ("BBA"), and New York State Bar Association ("NYSBA").

Ms. Ajaiyeoba is committed to empowering and servicing the community through her involvement in various organizations: she has chaired NLA's Legal Clinic Committee, chaired ABWA's Community Service Committee, served as a mentor for the Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Mentoring Program, a volunteer mediator with the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, Inc., and provided pro bono services to Changer, Inc., BBA's Volunteer Lawyers Project, and InMotion, Inc. In addition, she serves on BBA's Part 137 Fee Dispute Committee, NYSBA's Dispute Resolution Section's Diversity Committee, and serves as a volunteer arbitrator in Small Claims Court.

Prior to being elected as President of NLA, she served as Vice President, Public Relations Officer, Secretary, Editor of the publication, the “Nigerian Lawyer”, and served on several committees. In addition she has a featured essay in the publication, Conquering the Bar Exam, Insight for First-Generation and Minority Law Students and Graduates.

Ms. Ajaiyeoba is the proud mother of Olukemi Ajaiyeoba. In her spare time, she enjoys writing poetry and short stories.

Oladiran Ajayi, Vice President

Oladiran Ajayi (Diran) LLM, is a qualified lawyer. He obtained his LLB from the University of Lagos in 2004, where he served as the President of the Law Society. He practiced law in Nigeria from 2005 to 2007. He subsequently went on to obtain his master of laws degrees from the University of Dundee, Scotland and American University, Washington College of Law in Wasington DC. Diran was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Legal Studies Program Law Journal at the Washington College of Law. He also organized its maiden Conference on the International Rule of Law in Washington DC.

His work experience includes practice in the areas of international law and international arbitration in the law firms of Feshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Paris and Baker Botts LLP in London. He presently works as an Associate Director with Kaplan Inc in New York.

He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, the American Society of international Law, the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators and ICDR Young and International. He recently published an article titled “Resource Taxation as a Tool for Development” in the International Energy Law Review.

Uchechi Anyanwu, Secretary

Uchechi (Uche) Anyanwu is a 2009 graduate of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where she earned her Juris Doctor with a concentration in International Legal Studies. She is also a 2006 magna cum laude graduate of Howard University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

While in law school, Ms. Anyanwu was an incredibly active member of the local, regional and national levels of the National Black Law Student Association. Notably, Ms. Anyanwu was a participant in the National Black Law Students Association International Relations Committee Ralph Bunche Building Bridges Trip where law students from around the country traveled to Haiti to deliver monetary donations and school and soccer supplies to children living in Cite Soleil, one of the biggest slums in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result of this trip, Ms. Anyanwu co-founded Konbit Pou Edikasyon, an organization formed to insure that vulnerable and eligible Haitian children living in Haiti are capable of receiving a satisfactory base level of education, food and medical care. She also served as her BSLA chapter's 2007-08 Development Committee Chair, the 2007-08 NBLSA International Relations Committee African Coalition Liaison, and the 2008-09 SRBLSA Parliamentarian.

Ms. Anyanwu’s past summer and work experience include participating in study abroad programs in Brazil and Mexico, a clerkship with the Orleans Public Defenders Office, and internships with the United Nations Development Programme Nigeria and other organizations.

In 2010, she earned her LL.M, with Merit, from The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. In addition, Ms. Anyanwu has been admitted to the New York State Bar, Third Department, and is currently a Judicial Law Clerk in the New Jersey Superior Court, Chancery Division: Family Court (Morris County).

Ms. Anyanwu holds membership in the American Bar Association (ABA), New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), New York County Lawyers' Association (NYCLA), and American Society of International Law (ASIL).

Billy Enobakhare, Public Relations Officer

Billy Enobakhare is the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the NLA. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors, Editor-in-Chief of the NLA’s periodic publication, The Nigerian Lawyer, and as Parliamentarian of the association.

Mr. Enobakhare is a partner at Cofie Law Group, PLLC, where he practices general corporate and commercial law. His practice involves business entity formation and dissolution, negotiating and drafting real estate purchase/sale contracts, commercial leasing agreements, franchise agreements and loan agreements. He also handles bankruptcy matters for individuals and businesses.

Prior to joining Cofie Law Group, Mr. Enobakhare was an associate at the global law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, where he practiced in the areas of derivatives, and securitization and structured finance.

Mr. Enobakhare obtained his LL.B. from the University of Hertfordshire, England in 1998 (magna cum laude equivalent) and his LL.M (with a concentration in securities and financial regulation) from Georgetown University Law Center in 2006, graduating on the Dean's List. Upon graduation from the University of Hertfordshire, Mr. Enobakhare worked with the Society of Black Lawyers of England and Wales, and was instrumental in organizing an international conference on race hate crimes chaired by Eric Holder, then U.S. Deputy Attorney-General.

In his spare time, Mr. Enobakhare enjoys playing tennis and volleyball.

Reni Adadevoh, Parliamentarian