Conversations With Chinwe by Sola Oluborode

Omena Law Firm is 10 years old and as part of the celebration, I sat down with the founder, the owner, the boss lady, Chinwe Kpaduwa, to talk about her journey as a lawyer and entrepreneur. We’re talking life, love, and LOLs and we plan on celebrating all year long! Each month, in the Omena digital newsletter, you’ll get a snippet of our riveting Conversations With Chinwe. Let’s bring out the champagne and get ready to laugh, cry, and be inspired! Just remember… No drinking and driving!

We’ve got to start with the obvious question: What inspired you to become a lawyer in the first place?
It was actually from a movie, “A Few Good Men”. The movie where Tom Cruise and Demi Moore are lawyers and the guy, He’s an L.A. Lakers fan…He’s always there… Hollywood guy, watching all their games…Jack Nicholson! Yea, Jack Nicholson was the bad guy. I’m watching this in Nigeria. What year did it come out? I want to calculate my age because that’s when I decided I was going to be a trial lawyer.

Let’s see…<searches on Google>…1992!
Ok, so I was born in ’79, so that would make me how old? I was 13. My parents must have been watching it because I’m sure I wouldn’t have picked it out to watch. They got to the part where Tom Cruise was like, “Did you order the code red?! Did you order the code red?! Did you order the code red?!” And I’m just fascinated because I’m like, “Heeeey! You just get to terrorize somebody on the STAND?! Interrogate them like…” It was delicious to me! And then, Jack Nicholson, of course, walks into it like, “You want the truth?! You can’t handle the truth!” and just confessed his sins – without knowing he confessed because after he was like, “I’m leaving.” and they were like “Uh, you’re under arrest, you cannot leave.” [I found] that exchange of having somebody on the stand, watching Tom Cruise just take somebody apart…watching somebody stand in front of the stand, just ask you questions and dissect you, and then before you realize what has happened, you are shredded! You’re a ceviche! . That is beautiful! I saw that exchange in that movie, I was in Nigeria watching it. I was like, “I am going to be a lawyer! I love this!” And it wasn’t just, “I’m going to be a lawyer” but “I’m going to be the type of lawyer that goes to court, that has trials, that gets to cross-examine people like this.” At the time I didn’t know that it was cross-examination, of course, now I know. But at the time I was just like, “This is too beautiful for me not to get to do it!” That’s why I wanted to be a lawyer. It’s not a fantastic, “Oh I saw people and I wanted to help them but…”

Nooo, but it’s fun, though! You were inspired by what you saw!
Ooooh! Very inspired!

Do you feel like your present-day lawyering actually mirrors what you saw? Do you feel like when you’re in the courtroom you are that person now?

Were you surprised by what inspired Chinwe to become a lawyer? How do you think she responded to the follow-up question? Find out what Chinwe’s response was next month! What do you think she said?

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