Adeniyi Olayode

Adeniyi completed his PhD in Law at University of Durham. He’s also a Fellow with the Higher Education Academy (HEA). 

Adeniyi is a qualified Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court in Nigeria as well as a Solicitor of England and Wales. He is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK). He completed his LLM at Queen Mary, University of London in Comparative and International Dispute Resolution with a Merit in 2008. 

Adeniyi was a tutor at Durham Law School between 2013 and 2017 where he taught on the Legal Skills, Contract and Legal System of England & Wales modules. Adeniyi was also a part time Tutor with the Brilliant Club, on the Scholars Programme, which provides opportunities for Year 6 to Year 12 students to receive university-style tutorials.

Adeniyi is teaching on the Legal Methods and Skills module as well as Contract Law and Criminal Law in the LLB. He also teaches Contract and Criminal Law on the MLaw Programme as well the Restorative Justice: Principles, Issues and Debates on the LLM. Adeniyi is currently the Module Convenor in 3 modules; UG Legal Methods and Skills; Criminal Law in the MLaw programme and Restorative Justice on the LLM. Adeniyi is also involved in the Mastering Your Leadership programme for the LLM's Leadership and Innovation Skills for Law Students, which is conducted in conjunction with the Graduate School .

Adeniyi also acts as a Personal Tutor and was a former Advisor of Studies for the Law and Languages cohort between September 2020 to August 2023. He was the Law Reform Co-ordinator for the Global Skills Project where he worked with students on developing 'soft' skills like communication, teamwork, ethics and creative thinking. 

Adeniyi researches on the challenges in the criminal justice system, particulalry in the prison system and how penal reforms can be introduced to reduce recidivism. Adeniyi specialises in Restorative Justice (RJ) and how RJ models could be integrated as part of the rehabilitation programme in prison systems of various jurisdictions. 

Adeniyi's research interests also expands to Legal Education, with particular interest on how Reestorative Justice can applied in Universities, for example, in matters of Student Wellbeing and Mental Health. 

Restorative Facilitator, Level 2 Practitioner Certfication (The Restorative Hub Durham, 2017)

PhD in Law, 'Back to the Past: The (Re)Integration of Restorative Justice into the Nigerian Criminal Justice System' (University of Durham, 2012 - 2017)

LLM Comparative and International Dispute Resolution (Queen Mary, University of London, 2007 - 2008)

LL.B (Hons) Law (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 1997 - 2003)

Adeniyi has worked at the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse (LMDC), the first Court Connected ADR Centre in Africa between 2011 and 2012, mostly as a Program Officer in the Lagos Settlement Week Office. He assisted with the administration of the Lagos Settlement Week, a joint initiative program of the Lagos State Judiciary, the Nigerian Bar Association (Lagos) and the Ministry of Justice, Lagos State, designed for the purpose of decongestion of the courts’ dockets through the referral of cases suitable for possible resolution via Time Bound mediation.

Adeniyi has also been consulted to provide expert opinions as well as give evidence on the prison conditions in Nigeria. The opinon centered how the extradition of Nigerian nationals, convicted of offences in the UK to serve part of their custodial senetences in prisons in Nigeria, could potentially violate their human rights under Article 3 of the ECHR. He recently wrote and provided expert testimony in two matters, both in October 2023: Government of Nigeria v Rihole Odulate and Imuetinyan Schneider and Government of Nigeria v George Anitie Brown. 

Adeniyi is currently consulting with the LMDC, who were granted approval to accept RJ cases as part of the Lagos Judiciary's plan to include RJ in the judicial process in Lagos State. To assist them with increasing their capacity to handle this new responsibility, Adeniyi initiated a project titled 'The Use of Restorative Justice in Nigeria: Training, Practice and Research'. The first stage of the project (Training) involved the organization of a series of training workshops on RJ procedures and best practice. The first of these were conducted online in July 2021, after securing funding under the Engaged Research Seed Fund Scheme to the sum of £4,200 (Four Thousand, Two Hundred Pounds). 

Following the success of the online workshop, the next stage (Practice) will involve on-site, face-to-face observations of RJ practice in Lagos State. The final stage of the project (Research) would involve the production of outputs based on the above series of trainings and observations.