Dr Chukwuma Samuel Adesina Okoli is an Assistant Professor in Commercial Conflict of Laws at the University of Birmingham. He is one of the editors of conflictoflaws.net and a co-founder of both the Nigerian Group on Private International Law and the Interest Group on Private International Law in Africa.
He was formally endorsed by the British Academy under the Global Talent Visa (Exceptional Talent Route, 2025), following a rigorous national peer-review process recognising his world-leading research status, international reputation, established leadership, and demonstrable impact. He has also been elected an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law (December 2024), one of the most prestigious global bodies for comparative law scholars, and has been invited to deliver a keynote address at the Asian Academy of Private International Law Conference in Kyoto, Japan (December 2025).
Chukwuma is the author of two leading monographs in the Hart Studies in Private International Law series — Place of Performance: A Comparative Analysis and Private International Law in Nigeria (with Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong) — both published in 2020.
Before joining Birmingham, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Institute / University of Amsterdam for over two years, and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Luxembourg for four years, where he taught Comparative Private International Law, Comparative English Law of Contract, and Comparative English Law of Tort. His principal research interests span all aspects of Private International Law (Conflict of Laws), with particular focus on Africa, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Asia. His work has been widely cited in academic literature and practitioner texts, including Dicey, Morris & Collins on the Conflict of Laws.
At Birmingham Law School, he has taught across six modules, including Equity and Trusts, Tort, Legal Skills and Methods, and Private International Law at undergraduate level, and Commercial Conflict of Laws and Financing of International Trade at postgraduate level. He currently serves as Module Leader for both Commercial Conflict of Laws and was previously the Module Leader for Equity and Trusts.
Chukwuma is qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (since 2008) and previously practised in Nigeria. He has provided expert evidence on Nigerian law before foreign courts, including the Dutch courts, and remains available as an expert on matters of Nigerian law and as an academic consultant on international civil and commercial litigation.