BIOGRAPHY

Olarinde Elisabeta Smaranda is a Professor of Law; Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (FCArb); Fellow, Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria; Pioneer member and Fellow, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CEPACS), University of Ibadan. From 2011 to 2015 she was the Acting Provost, College of Law and from 2015 to date she has been the Provost College of Law and the Pioneer Director of Law Clinic ABUAD.  In less than ten years under her leadership, the College of Law was recognized as the best College among other Colleges in the University 4 consecutive times; the College of Law graduated six sets of Law undergraduates (LL.B); two sets of Master of Laws (LL.M) graduates. In July 2019, after due Resource Verification, the National Universities Commission (NUC), approved the commencement of the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in law, at the College of Law ABUAD, 2019/2020 session.  Under her leadership, the College of Law ABUAD and the Nigerian Institute Chartered Arbitrators had a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to train the students of the College of Law; the College recorded 100% pass rate in the November, 2018 Final Bar Examinations conducted by the Council of Legal Education; the overall best student at the Nigerian Law School, among over 6000 candidates who sat for the Final Bar Examination, emerged from the College of Law, ABUAD; in addition to these uncommon accomplishments, our students won 24 out of the 36 available prizes as a result of which many of the much older Universities have been congratulating ABUAD and the College of Law.

Professor Olarinde is currently the Ag. Vice Chancellor; Provost, College of Law, Member of Board of Trustees and member, Governing Council, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti.  She was also a member of the prestigious Council of Legal Education, Nigeria, 2013 to July, 2019. She has over 36 years of cumulative experience as a law teacher, academic, scholar, university administrator and legal practitioner.  Her legal background, in both civil law (Romania) and common law (Nigeria) systems, adds to her diverse multidisciplinary expertise and profile. This presents her with a distinctive comparative perspective on national and international legal research, where her focus has been on medical law, women, children and young adolescents’ rights and protection.

She has authored many articles and co-authored the book on Modern Law of Torts: a Kaleidoscopic Perspective; she was the Editor-in-Chief of the maiden edition of the Law Journal of the Public & International Law Department, University of Ibadan and Editor-in-Chief ABUAD Law Journal, College of Law, ABUAD from 2014 to date.

She was a researcher for International Documentation and Research Centre (IDRC) on Land Tenure and Access to Land for Women; the Joint Research Initiated by the Word Bank on Law, Development and the Status of Women Towards a Gender Strategy in Nigeria; UNICEF – Legal researcher for Niger State (Urban and Rural Area) and Oyo State (Urban Area); The Netherland, Israel and Nigeria joint research on the Girl Child’s Sexuality; amongst many others. She was a founding member of the first Nigerian interdisciplinary research Network on Social Sciences and Reproductive Health, University Teaching Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, research Funded by Ford Foundation and MC Arthur Foundation. Prof.  Olarinde was also a member of the “Think Tank” for the Legal Protection of Children in Oyo State and the Coordinator of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Drafting Committee on the Child’s Rights Law, 1983 Oyo State.

She is a versatile university administrator, having occupied leadership positions as Ag. Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration and Provost, College of Law at Afe Babalola University; Acting Head of Department of Public and International Law (three tenures) University of Ibadan; Sub-Dean Undergraduate and pioneering Sub-Dean Postgraduate, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State.