OTI UCHECHUKWU ANN
Lagos
Summary
Nigerian-qualified lawyer and AI governance researcher with five years of experience in legal practice and entrepreneurship. As founder of a boutique fashion law firm in Nigeria, I provide legal and business advisory services to creatives in the fashion industry. My work is expanding into AI governance, where I explore accountability, creativity, culture and human capability in the age of AI. I participated in Apart Research’s 2026 AI Incident Response Sprint, contributing to an Article 91 request for information under the EU AI Act. I have completed BlueDot’s The Future of AI course, hold Harvey Academy’s Legal Engineer Level I certification, and have completed BSI’s Understanding the Foundations of the EU AI Act course on Coursera.
Overview
1
1
Certification
6
6
years of professional experience
Work History
Founder & Lead Legal Consultant
Africa Fashion Law Services
Lagos, Nigeria
01.2021 - Current
- Founded and lead a boutique IP and commercial advisory practice for the creative industries, managing a team of 3–5 and advising 150+ designers, brands and businesses on IP ownership, contracts and risk.
- Designed and led the Creative Legal Clinic, delivering 400+ consultations in partnership with Fashion Finest Africa, Lagos Leather Fair and others. The clinic’s intake data showed that 75% of participants in the first cohort had no IP protection, which gave me the evidence base for later advisory work.
- Draft, review and supervise commercial agreements (100+), allocating rights, obligations and risk. Flagged a restrictive exclusivity clause, negotiated for the client and, when the counterparty would not move, advised proceeding on the client’s own draft.
- Represented the fashion industry at a roundtable of about 12 participants on IP securitisation, convened by IDICE and TNP, alongside Nigeria’s film, music and other creative industries.
- Delivered invited talks and participated in 20+ international events, including Fashion Evo Summit Zambia, Lagos Fashion Week and Fashion Tech New York Week, reaching a combined audience of 3,000+.
Education
Barrister at Law (B.L.) - undefined
Nigerian Law School, Kano Campus
01-2021
LL.B (Hons) - undefined
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
01-2019
Skills
- Leadership and Project Management: Founded and led Africa Fashion Law Services, managing teams of 3–5 across client work and content creation Built and ran The Creative Legal Clinic, a free consultation programme serving 400 Nigerian fashion creatives (2022–2023), in partnership with Fashion Finest Africa and Lagos Leather Fair Registered on the UN SDG Actions Platform
- Research, Writing and Knowledge Communication: Contribute to published research and conduct independent research on AI governance, creativity, culture and human capability Publish weekly essays on The Multiverse of Annie and adapt ideas into short fiction and videos to communicate complex concepts
- AI and Legal Technology: Harvey Academy Legal Engineer Level I certified, with foundational knowledge of legal engineering, AI risk analysis, LLMs, AI agents, prompt engineering, scenario analysis and process design
- EU AI Act Analysis and Regulatory Research: Developed foundational knowledge of EU AI Act requirements, compliance and risk management through BSI’s Coursera course Applied this knowledge during Apart Research’s 2026 AI Incident Response Sprint, contributing to research on an Article 91 request for information under the EU AI Act
Certification
- Understanding the Foundations of the EU AI Act - British Standards Institution (2026)
- Certified Legal Engineer, Level I - Harvey Academy (September 2026)
- Professional Certification on The Future of AI - BlueDot Impact (2026).
Timeline
Founder & Lead Legal Consultant
Africa Fashion Law Services
01.2021 - Current
LL.B (Hons) - undefined
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
Barrister at Law (B.L.) - undefined
Nigerian Law School, Kano Campus
Personal Information
- Title: Lawyer & AI Governance Researcher
- Nationality: Nigerian
- Availability: Open to Relocation
AI SAFETY & GOVERNANCE ENGAGEMENT
- Independent Research | AI Governance and Intangible Value September 2026 – Present
- Developing a policy framework, Governing Intangible Value in the Age of AI: A Policy Framework for Creativity, Culture and Human Capability, on how AI governance should account for the ownership, protection and economic value of creative and cultural assets.
- Authored a working paper, How Does Generative AI Affect the Economic Value of Human Authorship? (2026), arguing that generative AI reconfigures rather than uniformly erodes that value, depending on IP rules, licensing and bargaining power.
- Apart Incident Response Sprint 2026
- Legal Researcher
- Initiative and Research: Initiated collaboration with participants through a Women4AI Safety weekly call. Within three days, the team developed an Article 91 request for information under the EU AI Act and an evidence-sufficiency framework for assessing an AI-related cybersecurity incident.
- Recognition: Ranked in the top 10% of 230 participants; the team is seeking funding to develop the research further.
Awards
Top 100 Women in African Fashion, BusinessDay (2025), Prize for Law — Nominee, The Future Awards Africa (2025)
Publications
- Contributing author, “Fashion Law” chapter, Fashion Management: A Strategic Approach, 2nd ed. (Bloomsbury, 2024)
- Author, Nigeria chapter, The Fashion Law Comparative Guide (2024)