ASO KALU ETEA, MCIArb (UK), ACTI, PNM

MANAGING PARTNER

Aso is the head of the Entertainment & Intellectual Property Law Practice, and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice of Calmhill Partners. Prior to founding the Firm, he practiced corporate law and was actively engaged in the dispute resolution practice at Streamsowers & Köhn in Lagos, where his focus was regulatory advisory, commercial transactions, and debt recovery. He also has experience in the formation, financing, and growth of new ventures having been seconded to set up and head the legal department and advising the Board of Unicorn Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd from 2014 to 2016. Prior to this time, he had practiced law at ABFR & Co. in Lagos where he was deeply involved in intellectual property and employment law transactions. Aso holds an LLB from the University of Nigeria, and a BL from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos.

In his core area of practice, he has advised G-Worldwide Entertainment, U & I Music, Twenty20 Media, Broken Records, Perception Media, Otherside Media, and several independent music artists. He has also prepared different documentations between local media outfits and international record labels such as Warner Music, Regime Music Societe, and Universal Music Group. He has written several entertainment and IP related articles on different platforms including on Gravitas Review of Business & Property Law and Journal of Commercial Law. He also speaks frequently on parties’ rights in entertainment contracts.

Aso is a certified member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), Maritime Arbitrators Association of Nigeria (MAAN), and the International Chamber of Commerce Young Arbitrators’ Forum (ICCYAF). He is also a member of Lagos Court of Arbitration, Association of Professional Negotiators and Mediators, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the Section on Business Law of the Nigerian Bar Association, and an Associate of Prime Dispute group.