Mary Ekemezie is the Founder and Lead Consultant at ME Consult, a client focused legal consultancy offering a range of top-tier corporate and commercial legal advisory, employment law advice and business support services. She is also the Founder of ME Academy, an e-learning platform designed to (i) bridge the knowledge gap between the theoretical knowledge and the practical realities of the practice of corporate commercial law; and (ii) to support Startups and SMEs in building and sustaining a culture of corporate governance, legal and regulatory compliance.

An outstanding corporate and investment lawyer with significant corporate transactional experience and an excellent understanding of the Nigerian regulatory environment, she is known for resolving complex corporate and commercial legal issues. Her corporate law expertise is in structuring, coordinating and advising on market-leading transactions in mergers and acquisitions, private equity and corporate finance, as well as corporate restructurings and regulatory compliance.

She advised on the listing of the first exchange traded fund (ETF) on the NSE, the merger of the Nigerian subsidiaries of the world’s largest brewery, the first dual listing by an indigenous oil and gas company on the LSE and the NSE, and on the joint venture arrangement between an indigenous oil and gas company and the world’s largest independent commodities trading company.

In addition to her corporate law expertise, she has distinguished herself in the area of employment law and is recognised as a National Leader by Who’s Who Legal. A very well-regarded labour and employment practitioner, she is known for her excellent work on employment-related issues pertaining to significant M&A transactions. She routinely advises national and international businesses on the Nigerian law requirements for employment contracts, employment of foreign nationals, termination of employment contracts, redundancies, restructuring of employee remuneration structures, among others.

Prior to setting up ME Consult, Mary was a Managing Associate at Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie (UUBO), a full- service corporate law firm advising international and local corporate organisations on a wide spectrum of business issues in Nigeria. During her time at UUBO, she was the firm’s representative at the Employment Law Alliance (ELA) – a global network of local labour, employment and immigration attorneys, where she served on the leadership team of the African Region of the ELA. She is the current Vice-Chairman of the Employment and Industrial Relations Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law; the Events Team Lead of The Employment and Labour Lawyers Association of Nigeria (ELLAN) and a member of the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) Expert Network.

Mary has contributed to national, pan-African, and international publications including the International Comparative Legal Guide (ICLG) to Employment and Labour Law, and the World Bank’s Women Business and Law Report. She also co-authored the 2018 Nigerian Chapter of the Chambers M&A 2018 Guide and the Practical Law – International Acquisitions Transaction Guide 2016. She frequently speaks on panels and conferences on corporate law matters and is an alumna of the Slaughter & May EXPLORE Programme (2015), the Clifford Chance Africa Academy (2014), and the 17th Euromoney Project Finance School (2013).

An alumna of the NIA Leadership Institute and The School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG), Mary is passionate about good governance, effective leadership, and giving back to the community. She was a visiting lecturer at the Wavecrest College of Hospitality – Nigeria’s first mono-technic – where she taught hospitality and corporate law; and mentored two female entrepreneurs under the SheTrades and WimBiz mentorship programs in 2020.