Dr Okechukwu Ejims joined the School of Law, University of Westminster as a lecturer in 2019. He coordinates and teaches varied Commercial Law courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Dr Ejims also currently serves as chief examiner and tutor on the World Trade and International Investment Law modules at the University of London (QMUL/UCL) LLM degree in International Economic Law.
Before joining the University of Westminster School of Law, Dr Ejims was a lecturer at the University of Leeds from 2011-2017, where he was the course leader on International Economic Law courses.
He has qualified as a barrister and solicitor in Nigeria in 2003 and is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chartered institute of Arbitrators London, African International Legal Awareness and British Institute of International and Comparative Law. He has over 10 years multi- jurisdictional experience as a lawyer. Dr Ejims has practiced law in firms in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
He obtained an LLM in Corporate and Commercial Law from the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London in 2005 and a PhD from The University of Leeds in 2009, in which he specialised on International Economic Law.
In addition to his work as a lecturer, he is a contributor in developing Oxford Reports on International Investment Claims and Bilateral Investment Treaties, and a member of the African Union Law Research Project, which won an initial grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) and held its inaugural workshop in June 2017 at the Sussex University, Brighton with research interest on how AU law can act as a driver for change. He is also a member of African International Economic Law Network with research interest in the field of International Economic Law in Africa. He is also part of the Climate Change, Energy Policy and Sustainability Research Group at the University of Westminster with research interest on international investment and trade law and climate issues.
He is a contributor in Oxford International Organisations International Economic Law project in developing headnotes on documents or acts concerning the development and internal working of international organisations.
He recently got an invitation from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to be part of an Expert Group to review the Draft Publication “Towards a Common Investment Area in the African Continental Free Trade Area: Levelling the Playing Field for Intra-African Investment”, which held on 17 and 18 September 2020.
Dr Ejims research interests include International trade law, international investment treaty arbitration and the interaction between international investment treaty arbitration and human rights. Dr Ejims has published widely on investment treaty arbitration, impact of investment contract on environmental and human rights of indigenous communities, and on a south perspective on investment law developments on public health.