Adetayo Okunaiya – Lawyer and Photographer

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about being a lawyer is that everyone believes you have knowledge of everything and you have to study hard to prove them right. On the flip side, the most depressing thing is to realise that law is more about wading through volumes of text and authorities and that it has nothing to do with the courtroom Shenanigans of Hollywood or that the remuneration is often disproportionate to the hours of work put in.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbLoyYFjTFd/?igshid=1wuzgklsiazwz

I always wanted to study medicine or a course related to medicine. However, I struggled with physics and mathematics and at the end of my first year in secondary school, I took the advice of my dad and a Counselor and switched to the arts. Once I switched, the only course I wanted to study was law, thanks to John Grisham and the erroneous belief that anyone who reads a lot should become a lawyer.

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I started out practising as an Intellectual Property Lawyer and I currently work in Compliance – regulatory compliance and ethics. In a country where ethical conduct tends to be unpopular, my goal is to help organisations entrench ethics and compliance into their culture and demonstrate the benefits of ethics and compliance to a country that does not believe in it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByLXNlGpeVS/?igshid=1v39bgqbea3jf

My eyes were opened to the beauty of photography while living in Minna, a city in Niger State, located in the Northern part of Nigeria. I realised there were many beautiful sights in Minna that I wanted to capture and record permanently, so I started taking pictures of them. I started out with my phone. Since then it has become part of me to try to take pictures of interesting things. I love wildlife, street and landscape photography, mainly because the element of vanity is removed and I am able to present everyday scenes that people tend to ignore in spectacular fashion. For now, photography is still a hobby but I am honing my skills and I may consider going professional soon.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0HWInwpV2G/?igshid=st3j43xp7emy

My advice for anyone who wants to study law and still follow their passion is – Go for it. People tend to believe (lawyers included) that when you study law you must practice it ,otherwise, your years studying are wasted. This is false, as the skills you learn as a lawyer or in the process of becoming one are valid in many fields of endeavour and if fully exploited provide you with a platform to see beyond others. Finally ,even if you step out of law practice, continue to follow up on legal developments, particularly those relating to your passion.

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