Mosun Oke, LL.M. '18, Returns to IU McKinney to Pursue S.J.D.
03/13/2020
Mosun Oke, LL.M. ’18, has returned to IU McKinney to pursue a Doctor of Juridical Science degree. Oke is fulfilling a goal she had when she began her graduate studies in Indianapolis in 2017.
The focus of Oke’s S.J.D. thesis is the use of intellectual property assets as security for debt finance in her home country, Nigeria. Her research examines the current lending ecosystem in Nigeria, and the treatment of intellectual property assets in loan contracts. The research explores the contexts in which the creation of security interests in IP assets have been leveraged upon successfully in other jurisdictions, with a goal to establish how IP and intangibles could facilitate the supply of finance to Nigerian businesses, which Oke says are rich in this asset class.
A partner in a commercial law firm in Nigeria prior to beginning her graduate studies, Oke says she plans to consult or work for the Nigerian government in the area of policy planning, development, and implementation upon completing her S.J.D.
Oke received her Bachelor of Laws degree at Ogun State University, which is in Ago-Iwoye in Ogun State, Nigeria. Then, she attended the Nigerian Law School, where she wrote the professional qualification exam and was called to the Nigerian Bar. She obtained an LL.M. in International Commercial Law at the University of Leicester, in Leicester, England.
Research into the area of intellectual property assets and their importance to small- and medium-sized enterprises led Oke to Professor Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Director of the Center of Intellectual Property Law and Innovation at IU McKinney. In particular, she found Professor Nguyen’s law review articles on the “Collateralizing Intellectual Property” and “Financing Innovation: Legal Development of Intellectual Property as Security in Financing, 1845-2014.”
“I was impressed and at the same intrigued, so I looked her up on the internet and saw that she is the director of IU McKinney’s Center for Intellectual Property Law and Innovation and an internationally recognized legal scholar, known for her expertise in the intersections of intellectual property and secured transactions,” Oke said. “I emailed her my proposal and asked if she would be willing to supervise me and she said yes. And Voila!”
