The law firm of HARLEM SOLICITORS possesses a first-class business and legal practice that is tailored to serve each individual and corporate client in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Experience and results recommend HARLEM SOLICITORS in the following key respects:
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* TELECOMMUNICATIONS (Leases, Regulatory & Compliance)  HARLEM SOLICITORS is irrevocably committed to providing world-class litigation, regulatory, compliance, and transactional services to telecoms businesses, personalized to each client’s specific needs. With our full spectrum of decade-long experience in the Telecoms sector, we apply legal expertise to attack and deal with various issues, adding great value to our clients’ businesses through collaboration and teamwork. At Harlem, we dispense our services in these areas with razor-sharp precision in the light of our broad experience and the long-standing excellent relationship built with regulatory bodies, Landlords and various Community Development Associations, CDAs, especially in the South West (including Lagos). Matched with our ability to first identify and resolve key site issues impinging on your CAPEX and OPEX, our telecoms practice also includes rendering pieces of advice on, and resolving issues- contentious and non-contentious- across the full spectrum of the following areas-
The deep experience acquired by our Team Lead has resulted in full expertise in the foregoing areas, to the extent that we have become a benchmark for most Landlords, Cable TV, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Radio and TV Broadcasting, Tower and Site owners, who contact us almost daily for help in this regard. With broad knowledge of various laws by NCC, NESREA, UFRU and other environmental laws and regulations of the various states, HARLEM SOLICITORS is able to work effectively with the state and federal agencies to reach agreement on the steps our clients need to take in order to remedy infractions without dire consequences. We embody our roles through a cohesive team of lawyers working in concert to serve your chief interests at the highest and most efficient levels.
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* REAL ESTATE & PROPERTY LEASING
Be it luxury residential developments, commercial and industrial properties, acquisition financing or leasing of various projects as well as deal structuring, negotiations and documentation, our firm offers strong legal skills, practical and experienced business advice, innovative solutions and timely response to meet specific needs and objectives of our clients. Our real estate team have vast experience in representing all parties involved in corporate/commercial real estate endeavours, including owners, land developers, land speculators, lenders, landlords, tenants, brokers, title companies, contractors, engineers, as well as architects. Our real estate practice includes the following:
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| * ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ADR), CRISIS MANAGEMENT & LITIGATION
In order to avoid the pitfalls often created by ordinary litigation, such as negative publicity, blemished reputation, creation of significant potential liability for a business, our aim, often avowedly, is to resolve matters through a tactful negotiation, if possible, and by decisive and resolute litigation when it is not, ardently seeking integrative strategies where one or more settlements that can create a win-win situation. Our experience in a wide array of areas has equipped us to be able to resolve disputes and manage crises swiftly on behalf of our clients. We are committed to front-end strategizing with our clients so as to make them fully aware of the potential costs and risks involved in each approach to dispute resolution. But whether or not our clients’ legal issues get to the courtroom, we are always custom-designed to address your specific needs competently and aggressively.
Since we are mindful of the cost and time involved in litigation, we connect early on from the outset of each crisis, working smartly and swiftly with our clients to prevent, mitigate and contain situations so as to avert and minimise collateral damage, and ensuring relevant counsel and advice is obtained before any litigation process is considered, buoyed by our understanding that ‘winning’ comes in many forms and that a successful litigation outcome is one that meets our clients’ business objectives. We provide tailored legal services and representation to all players in the corporate world on all aspects of litigation/crisis management either before or after the commencement of the litigation process, including:
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* BANKING, FINANCE & SECURITIES
We also represent borrowers which include listed companies, large government-linked conglomerates and private high net worth individuals. We work as part of your team, assisting in the resolution of your toughest and most complex legal issues- all with a view to developing sustainable relationships that serve our clients’ objectives. Our lawyers advise on a wide range of banking and finance concerns including regulatory compliance, governance matters, capital markets and investment fund sectors as well as capital raising that is pivotal to business in today’s global marketplace. To meet your unique needs, we pair our renowned service area expertise with in-depth knowledge of the financial sector and deliver pieces of advice that maximize your opportunities and position. At HARLEM SOLICITORS, we give our clients full-service representation, without the inflexibility or unnecessary overhead of traditional large firms. We are regularly developing and implementing financing strategies and advising on business opportunities on both lending and borrowing sides. Our banking, finance and securities capabilities include:
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* CORPORATE/COMMERCIAL & BUSINESS ADVISORY
At Harlem, we are vastly experienced in delivering optimal effectiveness and efficiencies for entrepreneurial clients embarking on a new business venture as we put our interdisciplinary approach to bear on ensuring we serve as strategic advisors through all stages of growth of an emerging company, helping the founders attain their business goals and seeing the company achieve its optimal deserving. With sound business judgement, we provide expert support and advice to our clients through all stages of corporate growth, ranging from commercial loan transactions, business purchases and sales, corporate record preparation and filing, incorporation, business registrations, contract or lease drafting and review as well as general business advisory/counsel. For sundry weighty reasons, we sometimes work closely with other lawyers within your organisation where required, drawing on the versatility of our team in the areas of finance, secretarial, securities, regulatory, employment and labour, intellectual property and litigation. We also often work closely with other professional advisors, including tax advisors, auditors and accountants (both external and in-house), where necessary, to maximise our clients’ position and opportunities. And whether an organisation is merging, dissolving, or something in-between, you will always find creative problem-solvers focused on delivering efficient solutions. At Harlem across all our practices and the country in which we do business, we provide advice on complex regulatory/compliance matters, including in the following areas:
At HARLEM SOLICITORS, we recognize that agreements are essential to all businesses to capture value and avoid risk. We have a team of lawyers who are equally at home advising on complex, high-value day-to-day contracting requirements in key industry sectors such as retail, financial services, IT, telecoms, government projects as well as health.
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| * INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & ICT
At Harlem, we recognize the supreme importance of intellectual property as the primary asset for your business and understand your unique needs and objectives relating to intellectual property in particular and business strategy, in general. Since inventions often form the substratum of the most valuable assets of start-ups, a cast-iron intellectual property rights protecting these inventions can be pivotal to their survival. Our in-depth understanding of all types of intellectual property helps us to identify the most efficient ways to obtain, manage and protect our clients’ intellectual property during the different stages of a company to provide optimum value.
Whenever disputes arise from the misuse or misappropriation of intellectual property, we have a team of experienced litigators and expert negotiators, who obtain outstanding results for our clients, both in individual lawsuits and in collective conflicts. At Harlem, we offer our clients decade-long experience in assessing and overcoming legal, commercial, regulatory and compliance risks. We keep abreast of technology, updating ourselves with the resolution of numerous intellectual property/IT-related disputes and cases. We offer a full-range of legal services and take our clients’ briefs relating to the protection of their intellectual property in the areas of:
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| * IMMIGRATION, EMPLOYMENT & LABOUR
At HARLEM SOLICITORS, we give clear explanations and practical, cost-effective advice on aspects of your contract of employment bordering on compensation and benefits-related issues, wrongful dismissal, harassment and discrimination, constructive dismissal, severance benefits, and just cause matters. We plan and negotiate termination proposals for both employees and employers, without resorting to costly litigation, and are experienced in alternative dispute resolution procedures such as mediations and arbitrations. With the application of practical experience, legal expertise and technical know-how, we take holistic view of our clients’ cases in order to devise method to help them sail through each challenge and improve their positions. We also have a practice of working with employers in taking proactive steps to avoid litigation by assisting clients to draft and modify Employee Handbooks, personnel policies and contractual provisions governing trade secrets, non-solicitation, non-competition and other areas in the context of employment law. Our firm also provides bespoke, state-of-the-art legal solutions on issues from safety and occupational issues, incentives, restructuring, employee relations, HR policies and privacy, changes to labour and social security aspects, to pensions and retirement benefits. Some of our significant areas of practice include:
At Harlem, we engage accountants and other professionals where required to resolve our clients’ employment issues. So, no matter how complex or hydra-headed the challenge is, we are custom-tailored to handle your issues. |
| * GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS & COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Our lawyers have extensive experience in public-private projects and government contracts. We have cultivated long-standing relationships with government officials and business leaders to help our clients through the bidding and procurement process.We also routinely represent contractors in all manners of contract-compliance disputes and enforcement proceedings, sub-contractor disputes, and in negotiating change orders and contract extensions.We advise clients as to the rules limiting gifts and honoraria to public officials and public employees and help clients identify restrictions imposed by both state and federal laws and local ethics laws, civil service regulations and public agency policies. Drawing on our deep experience with governmental agencies, across our team allows us to provide advice that is timely, on point and strategic in the context of community/governmental emergencies and interventions, development projects and compliance matters. Our firm has also pioneered strategies towards creating ‘Good Corporate Citizens’ through good Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to protect GSM operators and Infrastructure Provider Companies from the vagaries of poor Quality of Service (QoS) resulting from site locks by hostile communities and regulatory/compliance issues. We work assiduously to find goal-orientated solutions to the challenges confronting our clients based on our vast understanding of how host communities think. |
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* FAMILY LAW, WILLS & PROBATES
Death is as inescapable as drawing breath! We assist our clients in identifying their long-term visions for the transfer of their wealth upon their deaths, and cater to the organization or re-organization of their family affairs so that their visions can be realized. Therefore, we offer expert advice to our clients on the best structure of a Will, tailored for individual circumstances. We address the personal and business perspective in family matters, including:
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* PRO BONO AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) INITIATIVES
 HARLEM Solicitors handling cases for Papa Oki Community on a Pro Bono basis as part of our CSR initiatives. At HARLEM SOLICITORS, we owe it to our corporate conscience to give back to the community even beyond our reach because we are irrevocably committed to uplifting the lofty virtues known to be inextricably entwined around the legal profession while the entrenchment of its noble ideals is equally paramount in our operational strategies. As such, we believe that it is our responsibility to give back to our community. Our belief is borne out of corporate self-regulation integrated into our practice model to ensure compliance with ethical standards and norms, even as we add value to the society in line with our ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ objectives. Our CSR activities include handling pro bono cases for individuals, especially in matters bordering on assault, rape, robbery and burglary and we harness enormous skill, strength and expertness to cases that we identify. Our approach is to first evaluate the merit of each case to see what it entails. Once we see the merits of the case, we may decide to take it and represent the person/individual right away. In the family law context, we offer mediation to parents of unruly children and volunteer to work on spousal rift without receiving any remuneration. Our CSR initiatives are also targeted towards providing material needs for the under-privileged, making visits to orphanages, the disabled as well as old people’s homes, including government schools, while also balancing the pursuit of profit with a commitment to good ethical conduct through supplemental community service activities. |