| Hamza-Bassey, 36, Named Partner of Historic US Law Firm |
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| Written by Laolu Akande | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saturday, 14 June 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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LAOLU AKANDE, NEW YORK One of the oldest and arguably the most prestigious law firm in the United States, Hughes Hubbard & Reed has recently named a young Nigerian trained lawyer partner in what is considered a significant election in US and Nigeria legal history.
Beatrice Hamza-Bassey, a 1994 graduate of law from the University of Maiduguri became the first African and second black person to be named a partner at Hughes Hubbard, a top notch US law firm with offices across the world, including cities like New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo among others. The law firm's history dates back to 1888 and was founded by a former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court and later presidential candidate Hughes Hubbard.
Besides, Hamza-Bassey, 36, is also the chairperson of the firm's Diversity Task Force aimed at encouraging the employment of lawyers from diverse backgrounds to work at Hughes Hubbard, a the US law firm which has more than 340 experienced practitioners and work in over 30 specialized practices, from mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, corporate reorganization, real estate and cross-border transactions to securities litigation, arbitration, product liability, antitrust, intellectual property, labor, employee benefits and tax, as well as niche practices such as art law.
The attainment of partnership in US law firms is both considered onerous and takes longer while, but Hamza-Bassey did it in just about a decade having joined the law firm in 1998 when she graduated from Harvard Law School with a LLM. According to her, "I was nt sure my goal was to make a partner when I came in. But my goals changed over time as the years evolved working with so many wonderful lawyers, I started thinking this is where I want to stay."
She said as a partner in a US law firm, she now has a vested interest in the firm. She is the first Nigerian to make the mark and the second black person, the first being another African-American woman Amalya Kearse, who made partner in 1969.
Between 2004 and 2007, Hamza-Bassey was also named Secretary of the New York City Bar's Litigation Committee and also Member of the Bar Association's Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession in New York City. The New York-based Nigerian born lawyer is also a member of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution Arbitration Committee.
Incidentally Beatrice as she is fondly called by colleagues and friends delivered her second child the same day the news reached her that she had been elected a partner at the law firm. "I was in the hospital to deliver when I had the news, the significance was not lost on me, it was a big deal. It made me quite emotional and then elation followed."
According to her she realizes holding a unique position as a black woman "to inspire people after me, not many people of color are making partners in law firms." But she credits her law firm for its effort to train top class lawyers. "When we find a talent, we develop you, and it takes a lot of money to train a lawyer."
Hamza-Bassey added that becoming a partner is not the end all but will use her position to develop her areas of practice even more. She has been doing a lot of US-Nigeria legal relationships especially since she is spending a lot of time in legal counseling on the US anticorruption law regarding foreign officials, the Foreign Corruption Practices Acts, FCPA.
The FCPA is the law under which the US Congressman William Jefferson is being charged on counts of bribery in relation to alleged deals with Nigeria and Ghana government officials. There are also several US companies including oil firms who have FCPA cases instituted by the US government against them and Nigeria is involved in some of such cases. According to Hamza-Bassey "I bring some value to US companies doing business in Nigeria and Nigerian companies doing business with the US." She also counsels clients doing business in Europe and China.
Beatrice is married to a Nigerian medical doctor, Yarromi Bassey and they both have two children and are based in New York.
Asked how has she been able to cope as a professional woman and yet a wife and mother all at once, she points to her faith in God as a driving force. Said the New York Lawyer :"I'm truly blessed. I believe there is God's hand, and nothing comes to me without God's blessings."
As a Christian, Beatrice makes the point that she is a Born Again Pentecostal and that she feels "a particular responsibility to God." According to her "I may not live up to every expectation, but will make sure I am successful and that I will be an instrument for God's glory.
Since her school days in Nigeria, she had been a brilliant student at Queens College, Lagos making A's in her SSCE-being the first set that sat for the SSCE and not WAEC in 1988. At Unimaid she graduated with distinction in 1994, she won the Dean's Prize, was the Moot Court Competition and was also the Class Valedictorian. At the Nigerian Law School, where she graduated with honors in 1995, Hamza-Bassey won the Sir Darnley Alexander Prize, Chief Ernest Shonekan Prize and the FRA Williams prize.
In New York, she was president of the Nigerian Lawyers Association, between 2001-2002 and the current chair of the Association's Board of Directors
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Posted by Robot| 14.06.2008 22:45