Professor Isabella Okagbue, is an accomplished lawyer and academic with several published books and articles to her credit. She is a member of the Nigerian Bar. Isabella had a distinguished academic career for many years with the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies where she rose from the position of Graduate Assistant to become a professor of law and the Director of Research. While at the Institute her scholarship focused on criminal law and criminal justice, civil liberties, women’s rights and juvenile justice. She worked for a short period with the United Nations in Somalia with UNOSOM II where she was responsible for the prisons, street children and juvenile justice programmes run by the United Nations in Somalia. After leaving the Institute she switched gears and engaged in corporate law work. She joined the United Bank for Africa Plc and over the course of her employment held various positions including General Counsel, Company Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer. She subsequently joined Metis Capital Partners Ltd as an Executive Director where she ran the day to day operations of the company and advised on projects with international blue chip companies in telecommunications and real estate among others. She has since retired from Metis Capital. In the course of her career she has served on several other boards/councils including the board of Emerging Markets Telecommunications Ltd (Etisalat Nigeria), the Council of the Lagos State Multi-Door Courthouse and the Council of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research. She is currently a non-executive director with FSDH Capital Ltd and FSDH Merchant Bank Ltd. She is a member of several professional organizations and serves on the boards of a number of NGOs including the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group, the Centre for Law and Business, and the Nigerian National Committee for the United World Colleges. Isabella has an LLB degree from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, an LLM degree from the University of Lagos and a second LLM degree from Harvard Law School. She was awarded the prestigious Fulbright African Senior Research Scholar Award and spent a further period at Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Fellow. Her other honours and awards include a Butterworths Fellowship from the London Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and Best Student Prize Faculty of Law University of Nigeria. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.