U.S names Nigeria’s Oloko in judicial body. From Laolu Akande, New York

A NIGERIAN-born United States (U.S.) lawyer has risen to the heights of legal practice in the U.S. as he has been named to the New York State Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commission. It is another in the series of Nigerian professionals making their mark in America.

Oloko, who was born and raised in Lagos confirmed over the weekend that he is now a member of the commission responsible for vetting and ratifying candidates for the positions of Judges in New York State. The Commission issues a public list of judicial candidates it finds worthy of the office, who can then stand for election as judges.

This is not Oloko’s first public recognition in New York. He was also appointed by the U.S Secretary of the Treasury to the Tax Advocacy Panel, an advisory body established to make recommendations for Internal Revenue Service improvement. Prior to this, he had been named an appointee to the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s Committee on Taxation Business Entities.

A statement from the Communications Office of the New York State Court System, stated that both the state’s Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and Chief Administrative Judge-equivalent of Nigeria’s Chief Registrar- Jonathan Lippman “announced the appointment of the members of the Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commissions, the newly established statewide network of screening panels to review the qualifications of judicial election candidates.”

Oloko, one of the founders and past president of the Nigerian Lawyers Association, (NLA), in New York, will serve the Commission in the New York State First Judicial District. In all, there are 12 commissions representing the 12 judicial districts in New York.

He is a transactional attorney specialising on corporate and business law, tax law and real estate, and he has a combined legal/Wall Street experience spanning nearly 20 years. A graduate of the Fordham University School of Law, New York, Oloko had earlier bagged an M.B.A. (Finance) at St. John’s University, New York.

According to the statement “the 15-member independent commissions were named by the Chief Judge, the Presiding Justices, the New York State Bar Association and local bar associations.”

The Commission started its work in April and each district body is responsible for evaluating judicial candidates for elective judicial offices to ensure that they possess the qualities necessary for effective judicial performance.

The statement made available to The Guardian explained that the establishment of a state-wide judicial candidate screening process was approved by the New York Court of Appeal, which is the highest court in the state in response to a recommendation of the commission to promote public confidence in judicial elections.