Smith, James A.

Herbert A. Igbanugo is the founding shareholder of Igbanugo Partners Int'l Law Firm, P.L.L.C. and was a founding partner of the former law firm of Blackwell Igbanugo P.A. Born in Nigeria, he received his undergraduate degrees in International Relations and Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1983 and 1984 respectively, and his Juris Doctor Degree from Hamline University School of Law in 1987. He heads Igbanugo Partners' International Trade Law practice group focusing exclusively on Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2000, he was invited to participate as a delegate in former President William Jefferson Clinton's historic trip to Sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past decade, he has regularly traveled to Africa developing crucial relationships in both the governmental and private sectors and studying economic trends in the region. He is a member of the Minnesota and New York State Bar Associations and is admitted to practice before numerous U.S. Federal District Courts, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals, the U.S. Court of International Trade, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Igbanugo also heads the U.S. Immigration & Nationality Law practice group. Selected as a "2006, 2007 and 2008 Minnesota SuperLawyer," he is known and respected in the legal community, and has been an adjunct professor of law at Hamline University and guest lecturer at the William Mitchell College of Law (St. Paul, Minnesota). He is also a frequent faculty participant and author for the Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, American Immigration Lawyers Association, The Africa World Business Congress, African Business Roundtable, NEPAD Business Group and the Nigeria-African Business Roundtable.

Mr. Igbanugo has substantial experience with the complex maze of U.S. Immigration and Customs legislations and regulations. He assists corporations and other types of organizations with a myriad of immigration matters associated with the hiring and intra-company transfers of foreign nationals for temporary or permanent assignments in the United States and the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr. Igbanugo's Sub-Saharan Africa Group also offers consulting and anti-corruption training and advisory services. Mr. Igbanugo is well versed in African-governmental relations development, lobbying and/or interest advocacy as well as U.S. government relations and public policy, including issue advocacy (e.g., debt relief, normalization of trade before federal and state decision makers, legislative drafting and analysis, legislative and executive branch monitoring on behalf of African governments, industries and business organizations). He aids his intercontinental clients with the interpretation, implementation and application of the African Growth and Opportunity Acts (AGOA) legislative provisions.

Publications include:

Comprehensive Immigration Reform - Inevitable Solution or Unlikely Possibility? (Nexus - A Journal of Opinion, Chapman University School of Law, Vol. 13, 2007-2008)

Minority-Owned Law Firms and Corporate America's Diversity Crucible (National Bar Association Commercial Law Section, Volume 4, Issue 1, Winter 2007)

Ethical Standards in Business and Legal Representation of United States Corporations in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Expose of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Presented at the 2nd World Business Congress 6-9 November 2005 Accra, Ghana).