For almost ten years now, Nicolin Assogba has been a partner lawyer at D2A Société Civile Professionnelle d’Avocats (SCPA D2A), a Benin-based law firm located in Cotonou, the country’s largest city. Leveraging a background in business and judicial law, as well as a wealth of expertise in fundamental private law, Nicolin’s ten years of legal excellence has paved the way for continuous growth for SCPA D2A, which is today one of Benin’s leading law firms. On the back of Benin’s recognition with the title of Leading Corporate & Commercial Lawyer of the Year 2025 – Benin, we take a closer look at both his journey and the distinguishing points of the firm he represents.
Dating back to his days at the University of Abomey-Calvai, which is Benin’s main public university, it was clear that Nicolin Assogba was destined for spectacular things within the country’s legal landscape. After cutting his teeth through a number of law-based positions for smaller firms in Benin, Nicolin secured a legal partner role with SCPA D2A in 2016, in the process starting a tenure that would last almost a decade and counting, during which he has helped take the firm to new heights and served clients across Benin and beyond.
Over this same period, Nicolin has blossomed into one of the best lawyers, consultants, trainers, and research officers of his kind in the field, with his diverse skill set spanning everything from drafting documents, reports, and provisions through to providing financial advice for investors and states. A career highlight has seen Nicolin practice arbitration as counsel in various capacities across ICC, CCJA, CAMEC-CCIB, and ISCSID proceedings, to name a few. Such scope makes Nicolin an invaluable member of his firm’s team.
He is, however, just one component of a team which are more than sum of their parts, and it is the magic captured through these ranks that makes SCPA D2A such a pioneering force in what is one of Africa’s most exciting legal and commercial environments, for reasons discussed further down below. Since this operation is a team effort through and through, it is fair to say that this recognition extends beyond Nicolin and also applies to the wider firm. For this reason, it pays to understand more about the synergy within SCPA D2A itself.
Founded in 2000 by Professor Joseph Djogbenou, SCPA D2A is a leading law firm specialising in legal engineering, consulting, and litigation. With a team divided into two main departments – one focusing on engineering and consulting and the other litigation – the firm collaborates with a host of experts and consultants, resulting in its expertise across the landscape of this West African country being unrivalled. It is thanks to this that SCPA D2A is able to put its proficiency to use across numerous areas of law, such as corporate and commercial.
Speaking of its team, Professor Djogbenou is a leading figure of Benin’s legal community, Professor Joseph DJOGBÉNOU founded SCPA D2A and established the intellectual and methodological foundations that continue to shape the firm today: academic rigor, strategic foresight, and uncompromising ethical standards.
Furthermore, Maître Olga Anassidé is an outstanding example of technical precision and litigation expertise. Maître Olga Anassidé is a senior lawyer within the firm, Maître Olga Anassidé represents the operational precision and technical excellence that characterise D2A’s work. Her practice spans business law, economic litigation, labour law, and both domestic and international arbitration.
She plays a pivotal role in coordinating teams, supervising sensitive matters, and advancing specialised areas such as digital law, civil law, and complex commercial disputes, earning recognition for her strategic insight, rigorous method, and reliable execution.
Maître Nicolin Assogba, serves as co-managing partner, has significantly contributed to the firm’s development and consolidation as a regional leader. His background in business law, banking and finance, economic litigation, international arbitration, and legal research has strengthened the firm’s standing both locally and internationally.
His practice covers international arbitration before the ICC, CCJA, CAMEC-CCIB, ICSID and other institutions; strategic advisory for investors, corporations, and public bodies; drafting and structuring of complex commercial and financial contracts; high-value commercial and banking litigation; advancement of innovative legal practices and digital transformation within the profession; academic and professional teaching in OHADA law.
His engagement within international institutions — including the African International Conference of Bars (CIB), the International Arbitration and Mediation Center (CIAM), and national arbitration bodies — further reinforces the positioning of D2A as a centre of excellence in business law, dispute resolution, and legal innovation.
More than a law firm, D2A is a legal institution, shaped by the combined strengths of its three partners the intellectual vision and academic authority of Professor Joseph Djogbénou; the technical expertise and operational leadership of Maître Olga Anassidé; the multidisciplinary reach, international orientation, and innovative capacity of Maître Nicolin Assogba.
Together, they form one of the most influential legal teams in Francophone Africa, offering strategic, ethical, and bespoke legal services to national and international actors navigating increasingly complex legal and economic environments.
His extensive work has profoundly influenced the firm’s development in business law, governance advisory, legal reform, and strategic litigation, positioning D2A as a benchmark across the sub-region. He remains one of the driving forces of the firm’s legal engineering practice, bringing exceptional analytical depth and a sustained capacity for innovation.
For twenty-five years, D2A has stood as one of Benin’s foremost law firms, distinguished by its mastery of legal engineering, strategic advisory services, and high-level litigation. Established in 2000, the firm was built on a defining ambition: to provide each client — corporations, public institutions, investors, and international organisations — with precise, tailored, and ethically rigorous legal support, firmly rooted in an exceptional command of OHADA business law, economic litigation, and the evolving complexities of the contemporary legal environment.
Today, D2A relies on a team of nearly fifteen experienced lawyers and consultants, a highly success rate, and a client base exceeding 1,000 individuals and entities, both in Benin and abroad. Ranked among the Top 50 OHADA law firms, cited by Chambers, and recipient of numerous professional awards, the firm has consolidated its place as a reference within the West African legal sector.
Its areas of intervention encompass the full spectrum of corporate activity corporate law and governance operations; high-stakes commercial litigation; banking and finance law; international arbitration (ICC, CCJA, CAMEC, ICSID); tax, labour, civil and white-collar matters; specialised fields including energy, mining, real estate, IP, digital law and maritime law.
The firm has also deepened its offering in legal engineering, developing sophisticated and innovative solutions for the structuring of commercial and financial transactions and assisting clients with the legal dimensions of digital transformation.
United by the shared goal of providing effective and relevant legal services that exceed even the highest ethical standards, SCPA D2A is renowned across Benin for its ability to meticulously tailor these services to the needs of clients ranging from individuals and companies through to public bodies and international organisations. Whether it is providing its services across business law, financing, debt collection, or any of the other areas mentioned above, the firm prides itself on offering the gold standard of service.
Business law in particular is where SCPA D2A shines, this as a result of the emphasis it places on OHADA law. OHADA, or the Organisation for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa, was established by the Treaty of the Harmonization of Business Law in October 1993, during a signing in Mauritius. The aim of OHADA is to create a unified legal framework for the business activities of its member states – of which Benin is just one – enhancing legal and judicial security for investors and companies in the process.
Since it was first established more than 30 years ago, OHADA has supported the 17 African countries that are proud to be members through initiatives focusing on everything from promoting trade between them to attracting foreign investments by nurturing a stable legal landscape in these nations and even simplifying business processes through standardised regulations, ultimately making it easier for companies to be set up and their contracts to be enforced. More information on OHADA can be found at its website, linked here.
Returning back to the firm itself, its team are experts in every element of OHADA law, so much so that they both teach it at university level and during bar training for those individuals looking to comprise the next generation of legal professionals in Benin and further afield. This, however, is just the beginning of the expertise inherent across this team of highly qualified legal expert and consultants, all of whom are passionate and ready to deliver innovative and reliable solutions to a diverse client base in search of the very best.
Efficient and experienced in equal measure, the team are capable of anticipating the needs of their national and international clients alike, resulting in the provision of a strategic and sustainable service that is guaranteed to impress. More than just an empty claim, backing this up is the fact that SCPA D2A has a 99% success rate for cases, with its team of nearly 15 attorneys having served over 10k happy clients in the 25 years since the firm began. Furthermore, a host of accolades and awards testify to its unrivalled excellence.
Heading up the team here across many of these areas – with help from both the aforementioned Joseph Djogbenou and Olga Anasside, another of the firm’s senior lawyers – Nicolin Assogba embodies all that is great about Benin’s leading law firm. Named the Leading Corporate & Commercial Lawyer of the Year 2025 – Benin in this feature, it is our pleasure to champion Nicolin as one of the best legal advisors in the region today.
More on D2A Société Civile Professionnelle d’Avocats can be found by following the web address below, whereas further details on Nicolin are available here, on LinkedIn.
Contact Details
Contact: Nicolin Assogba
Company: D2A Société Civile Professionnelle d’Avocats
Web Address: https://www.scpad2a.org/
