Sir Louis Nwachukwu Mbanefo Kt is noted as the first lawyer from the East of Nigeria. He was born in Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria, and obtained his education in the United Kingdom at a time when it was extremely rare to have a person of his ethnic persuasion pursuing higher education, much less professional training at the bar.

NAME: Louis Nwachukwu Mbanefo

DATE OF BIRTH: 13 May 1911 – 28 March 1977

PLACE OF BIRTH: Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria

OCCUPATION: Lawyer

EDUCATION: Between 1925 and 1932 he attended the Methodist Boys High School in Lagos and subsequently the prestigious Kings College, also in Lagos, which was modelled on Eton and Harrow Colleges and where he was a keen cricketer and footballer. He was later admitted to the University College London, where he studied Law, graduating with Upper Second Class Honours in 1935.

CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, shortly after graduating from university. He was then admitted to King’s College, Cambridge, where he obtained a further degree in the Humanities in 1937.