Dr Pontian Okoli

Dr Pontian Okoli is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Stirling. From May 2021 to August 2024, he was the Director of BA Law Programmes and Adviser of Studies. Currently, he is the Director of Learning and Teaching (Law and Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Humanities).

Pontian completed his PhD in 2018 at the University of Dundee where he was a Scrymgeour Scholar. He also obtained his LLM with Distinction (International Commercial Law, 2011) from the University of Dundee. His comparative doctoral research, concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, built on his law practice since 2007 when he qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme Court. He obtained his LLB from the University of Nigeria in 2006. Pontian’s law practice focused on International Commercial/Corporate Law and investment risks generally. He worked in two Nigerian law firms and as In House Counsel in a leading Nigerian financial institution with several international branches in Africa and the United Kingdom. During his law practice, Pontian represented clients based in Europe/ United States and worked with European law firms on various international commercial legal transactions.

For nearly half a decade at the University of Dundee, Pontian taught several law modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He undertook the roles of Module Organiser, Course Leader and Tutor. Pontian’s research interests include Private International Law, Comparative Law, intersections between international business transactions and access to justice, and regional integration. Among other research roles, he was an Editorial Advisory Board member of the Commonwealth Law Bulletin from 2013 until the journal evolved in 2021. Pontian is also a pioneer co-convener of the Dundee Africa Research Network.

Pontian is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Higher Education Academy. He is also the pioneer Chair of the Academy and Mentorship Committee, Indonesia International Arbitration Center from 2021 to 2024 where he successfully set up training courses regarding arbitration and mediation.

The facilitation of international commerce is the common thread that runs through most of Pontian’s research: from the perspectives of jurisdiction, access to justice, Commercial/Corporate Law, Conflict of Laws and Comparative Law generally. Some of his articles have been cited on reading lists in several universities including the University of Dundee; City, University of London; and the University of Reading. Pontian’s work has also been cited in industry publications concerning Comparative Law including the International Comparative Legal Guides (Enforcement of Foreign Judgments 2017). His article on pre-action notice published by the African Journal of International and Comparative Law (Edinburgh University Press) was the most downloaded in 2014. As of May 2025, his 2023 article on internet torts published by Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law was the most downloaded article in its year of publication.

Some leading Brazilian scholars selected his 2022 article (on the challenges of corruption in international arbitration), alongside relevant works of leading scholars around the world, for translation into Portuguese: "Corrupção na arbitragem comercial internacional: efeito dominó na indústria energética, países em desenvolvimento e impacto da ordem pública inglesa" em Arbitragem e Corrupção (Thomson Reuters 2025).

He is also the author of "Promoting Foreign Judgments: Lessons in Legal Convergence from South Africa and Nigeria" (Wolters Kluwer, 2019).

Some Peer-reviewed Journal Articles and Book Chapters:

• Ensuring the effectiveness of treaties in Africa - case studies of South Africa and Nigeria (2025) 57(2) Cornell International Law Journal 487

• Promoting treaties in Nigeria and operationalising the Singapore Convention on Mediation (2025) African Journal of Legal Studies 164

• Arbitrators' fees: securing payment through a navigation between statutory provisions and the common law in Nigeria (2024) 32(4) African Journal of International and Comparative Law 223 — Co-author

• In search of a sustainable future: A comparative assessment of climate change regimes in Nigeria and Kenya (2024) Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 1 — Co-author

• ‘South Africa – the Execution of Foreign Decisions in International Civil and Commercial Matters’ in Stellina Jolly and Saloni Khanderia (eds), Conflict of Laws in BRICS: Convergence, Divergence, and Scope for Harmonisation (Hart Publishing 2024) 509.

• An efficiency-based approach to disclosing expert witnesses' conflict of interest in international commercial arbitration under English law (2023) International Arbitration Law Review 1

• Jurisdictional rule "X" in the conflict of laws: Challenges of policy and security in internet torts with business implications (2023) 51(2) Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law 397

• Former British colonies: The constructive role of African courts in the development of private international law (2022) 7(2) University of Bologna Law Review 113

• Corruption in international commercial arbitration — domino effect in the energy industry, developing countries, and impact of English public policy (2022) 15(2) Journal of World Energy Law & Business 136. See also Pontian N. Okoli, "Corrupção na arbitragem comercial internacional: efeito dominó na indústria energética, países em desenvolvimento e impacto da ordem pública inglesa" em Georges Abboud, Francisco de Assis e Silva and Antonio Gavazzoni, Arbitragem e Corrupção (Thomson Reuters 2025)

• Judicial Intervention in arbitration: unresolved jurisdictional issues concerning arbitrator appointments in Nigeria (2021) Journal of African Law 223 — Co-author

• From Brussels to Addis Ababa: a comparative and contextual analysis of access to justice under private international law in Africa (chapter contribution — in M Ndulo and C Emeziem (eds), The Routledge Handbook of African Law (Routledge, 2021) 542

• The fragmentation of (mutual) trust in Commonwealth Africa —A Foreign Judgments Perspective (2020) Journal of Private International Law 519

• The HCCH's development in Africa (chapter contribution in T John, R Gulati and B Kohler, The Elgar Companion on the Hague Conference of Private International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020) 52 — Co-author

• Power market coupling: towards harmonised electricity policies in the East African Community (2019) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law 1 — Co-author

• English worldwide freezing orders in Europe: a pragmatic search for legal certainty and the limits of judicial discretion (2018) 5(3) European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance 250

• Jurisdictional conflicts and individual liberty — the encroaching burden of technicality in Nigeria (co-author) (2018) 22(4) The International Journal of Human Rights 437

• Subject matter jurisdiction: the recognition and enforcement of English judgments in Nigeria and the need for a universal standpoint (2016) 17 Yearbook of Private International Law 507

• In pursuit of substantial justice: navigating between flexibility and certainty in international commercial law (2014) 7(4) International Journal of Private Law 376

• Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Nigeria: comparative analysis of public policy and procedural fairness (2013) 2013 (24) International Company and Commercial Law Review 437

• Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Nigeria: comparative analysis of legal regimes and jurisdiction (2013) 24(11) International Company and Commercial Law Review 234

•Controlling directors in a troubled economy — a UK perspective (2012) 23(7) International Company and Commercial Law Review 234

• Defining the limits: clash between a doctor’s duty to preserve life and enforcement of a patient’s religious belief (2012) 38(3) Commonwealth Law Bulletin 379 — Co-author

• Rescue culture in the UK: realities and the need for a delicate balancing act (2012) 23(2) International Company and Commercial Law Review 61

• Access to justice and fair-hearing: an evaluation of pre-action notice in Nigerian jurisprudence (2012) 20 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 70

• Between use and abuse: an examination of the efficacy of interim and interlocutory injunctions in Nigeria (2011) 37(2) Commonwealth Law Bulletin 241 — Co-author

At the University of Stirling, Pontian has been teaching on Commercial Law and Private International Law since 2018 and 2019 respectively. He also coordinated Research Methods in the past.

Pontian’s previous teaching experience covers the following modules: International Commercial Litigation/ Private International Law — Common Law Perspectives, Private International Law of Business Transactions (Course Leader at LLM level), English Law of Contract (Advanced), English Law of Tort (Advanced – Module Organiser), Foundations of Law, and Public Law.

He has external examiner experience in the following areas at LLM level: international arbitration, international trade, digital markets, corporate tax, and blockchain.

A large part of Pontian's teaching overlaps with his PhD supervision. He has been involved in PhD supervision concerning several areas including private international law, international trade, and artificial intelligence in an international commercial context.

His PhD internal examination has covered areas such as international commercial mediation, international economic treaties, and offshore oil and gas. And his external examination has covered dispute resolution.

He welcomes PhD enquiries in private international law, commercial law, treaties and their intersections with dispute resolution generally.