Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti

Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti (Akin) is an Assistant Professor of law at the University of Manitoba. He earned his LLB from the University of Ilorin and was called to the Nigerian Bar. He practiced law in a full-service commercial law firm for three years before starting his graduate studies. Akin earned his LLM and Ph.D. degrees at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. His Ph.D. thesis is titled “Africa’s Contribution to the Development of the Norm of Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights.” Dr. Ogunranti writes and publishes in the business and human rights field, focusing broadly on corporate accountability relating to human rights, climate, and the environment. His research covers thematic issues involving global governance, international dispute resolution, international investment law, and conflict of laws.

Before joining Robson Hall, Akin was an Assistant Professor and Crawford Fellow at the Schulich School of Law. He joined the teaching faculty at Schulich Law as a professor in 2019. He taught first and upper-year courses, including contracts, professional responsibility, business and human rights, and legal ethics. He has received many awards, including the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia entrance scholarship, the Dean Ronald St. John MacDonald Graduate Fellowship in Law, the Schulich Fellowship, and the Crawford Fellowship.

Akin is a lawyer in Nigeria, Manitoba (non-practicing), Nova Scotia (non-practicing), Canada. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Association of Certified Anti-money Laundering Specialists. In 2024 Dr. Ogunranti was appointed to the International Law Association's Committee on Business and Human Rights.

Peer-reviewed articles

• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Norm Contestation in the BHR Field—The Role of Corporate Actors as Entrepreneurs, Antipreneurs, and Saboteurs” (2024) 0:0 Business and Human Rights Journal 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Dispute Resolution in the AfCFTA Investment Protocol—A Preliminary Assessment and Proposal for Business and Human Rights Arbitration” (2024) 25:6 Journal of World Trade and Investment 666.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “The Relationality of Community-Investor Agreements—Towards an HRDD Good Faith Requirement” (2024) 0:0 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Private Law as a Tool for Climate Justice in Canada: Reflections on the New Zealand Court’s Decision in Michael Smith v Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited” (2024) 47:2 Manitoba Law Journal 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Why the Multilateral Investment Court is a Bad Idea for Africa” (2024) 47:1 Dalhousie Law Journal 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Localizing the UNGPs—An Afrocentric Approach to Interpreting Pillar II” (2023) 8:1 Business and Human Rights Journal 66.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Towards Access to Justice for Local Communities in Investor-State Arbitration or Business and Human Rights Arbitration” (2022) 59:3 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 707.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Normative Role of The ECOWAS Court of Justice in Transnational Corporate Accountability” (2022) 13:2 The Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy 53.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Procedure: The Handmaid of Justice- An Analysis of the Dissenting Judgement of Honourable Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim in Osude v Azode” (2021) 5:1 The Appellate Review Journal 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Separating the Wheat from the Chaff—The Role of Separability in Delimiting Public Policy’s Influence on Arbitrability of Disputes in Africa” (2019) 10:1 The Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy 104.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “The Hague Principles – A New Dawn for Developing Countries?” (2017) 35:4 Netherlands Journal of Private International Law, NIPR 1.

Book Chapters and Reviews

• Book Review (2023), Implementing Business and Human Rights Norms in Africa: Law and Policy Interventions (Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2022).
• Sara L Seck & Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Accountability – Legal Risk, Remedies and Damages” in Rae Lindsay & Roger Martella, eds, Corporate Social Responsibility – The Corporate Governance of the 21st Century (Kluwer Law International, 2020).
• ‘Sina Sofola, SAN (QC), Akinwumi Ogunranti & Osaserhe Uhunmwagho – “Theories of Judicial Decision-Making: Formalism and A Theoretical Response” in Demola Okeowo, ed, Trailblazer: A Selection of Essays and Papers in Celebration of Chief Folake Solanke, SAN, CON (Lagos: Legal Magnates, 2019).
• Book Review (2020), Business and Human Rights Journal: Dalia Palombo, Business and Human Rights: The Obligations of the European Homes States (Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, 2019).

Blog posts

• Bill S-285: 21st-Century Business Act – Is Canada Finally Catching Up with the Rest of the World? (15 August 2024) Dalhousie Law Journal blog.
• “Multilaterizing Investment Disputes: Should Africa Learn from History and Experience?” (15 September 2023) The Manitoba Law Journal blog.
• “The Effect of Recent Coups in Africa on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement” (20 September 2023) Afronomicslaw blog.
• “Separating the Wheat from the Chaff: Delimiting Public Policy Influence on the Arbitrability of Disputes in Africa” (14 October 2019) Afronomicslaw blog.
• “Access to Justice for Local Communities in Investor-state Arbitration” (6 December 2019) Dalhousie Law Journal blog.

• Schulich Fellowship Award
• Purdy Crawford Fellowship Award 
• Schulich School of Law Graduate Scholarship Award- Law Foundation of Nova Scotia 
• Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarships
• Dean Ronald St. John MacDonald Graduate Fellowship in Law
• George Caines Graduate Scholarship