Why You Need a Specialist Modelling Lawyer in Nigeria
The Nigerian modelling industry is one of the most commercially dynamic creative sectors on the African continent. Models are being placed internationally. Brands are investing significant sums in campaign shoots. Agencies are building rosters and developing talent with real financial commitment. And at every stage of this growth, the same problem keeps arising: the legal agreements governing these relationships are not adequate to protect the people who sign them.
Cardinal Counsel is Nigeria’s specialist fashion and modelling law firm. Founded and led by Bernice Ofunre Asein, Esq., one of Africa’s leading fashion lawyers and the author of Fashion Law in Africa (FLIAfrica Imprint, 2025), the first fashion law text published on the African continent, Cardinal Counsel advises models, modelling agencies, and fashion brands on the full spectrum of legal issues that arise in the Nigerian modelling industry.
Whether you are a model who has been offered a contract you do not fully understand, an agency whose model has walked off set and refused to return your deposit, or a brand whose booking agreement has broken down, Cardinal Counsel has the expertise to advise you.
What Makes Cardinal Counsel Different
Most law firms in Nigeria will tell you they handle commercial disputes. Very few understand the modelling industry specifically, the commercial dynamics of how agencies, models, and brands interact, the way booking agreements are structured, or the practical realities of what goes wrong in a shoot and why.
Cardinal Counsel is not a general practice firm that occasionally handles creative industry matters. We are a specialist boutique firm whose entire practice is built around fashion law, modelling law, intellectual property, and creative economy transactions. We understand your industry because we work in it every day.
Bernice Ofunre Asein, Esq. is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fashion Law Institute Africa, the first fashion law institution on the African continent. She is Founding Board Member and Legal Counsel to the Nigerian Fashion Council. She has worked with over 100 models and fashion industry professionals across Africa, supporting access to legal advice and professional protection at every stage of a modelling career. She has been twice nominated for the Future Africa Awards Prize for Law, one of the most prestigious recognitions of legal excellence on the African continent. She teaches fashion law. She writes about it. She built the legal framework that currently governs professional standards in Nigeria’s fashion sector. When she advises you on a modelling dispute, she is not learning your industry. She already knows it.
We Advise Both Sides: Models and Agencies
Unlike some legal practices that limit their representation to one side of the model-agency relationship, Cardinal Counsel advises both models and agencies, as well as the brands that engage them. This means we understand how disputes look from every angle, and we use that understanding to give better, more practical advice to whichever party we are acting for.
If you are a model, we can review your contract before you sign it, advise you on your rights during the term of the agreement, and represent you if the agency breaches its obligations to you.
If you are an agency, we can draft and review your model contracts, advise you when a model fails to perform or walks off a confirmed booking, and represent you in recovering your losses.
If you are a brand, we can advise on your booking agreement, help you recover a deposit paid for services not rendered, and represent you if an agency or model has breached its obligations to you.
Understanding Your Modelling Contract
The modelling contract is the document that governs everything. It determines what the agency can do with your image. It determines what happens if a booking is cancelled. It determines whether the agency can keep your money if a shoot falls apart. It determines whether you owe the agency commission on bookings made after the contract ends. It determines whether you can work with other agencies or brands independently. It determines what happens to the relationship if things go wrong.
Most models in Nigeria sign contracts they have not read, or that they read but did not fully understand, or that they understood individually but did not realise how the clauses interacted with each other. Most agencies use contracts that were adapted from agreements designed for a different market, or that were never properly reviewed by a lawyer who understands both Nigerian law and the modelling industry specifically.
The consequences of this are visible in the disputes Cardinal Counsel is instructed to resolve every year.
Cardinal Counsel reviews and advises on the following types of modelling agreements:
Mother Agency Agreements
A mother agency agreement governs the relationship between a model and the Nigerian agency that discovered, developed, and placed her. It should address the agency’s commission rights on international placements, the scouting fee payable if the model terminates following placement abroad, the agency’s development cost recovery provisions, and the post-termination commission structure. Most Nigerian mother agency agreements are significantly deficient in at least one of these areas.
Booking Agreements
A booking agreement governs a specific engagement between a brand and an agency for the services of a named model. It should address the model fee, the deposit structure, the permitted uses of images captured during the shoot, the consequences of cancellation by either party, and the remedies available if the model fails to perform. Most Nigerian booking agreements do not adequately address what happens when a shoot breaks down and who bears the cost.
Exclusive and Non-Exclusive Agency Agreements
An exclusive agreement requires the model to work solely through the agency for the duration of the contract. A non-exclusive agreement allows the model to work with other agencies or to secure her own bookings. The difference between these two structures has significant commercial implications, and models frequently sign exclusive agreements without understanding the restrictions they are accepting or the consequences of breaching them.
Model Release Forms
A model release form determines what a brand or photographer can do with images captured of you. A release that is too broad can allow a brand to use your image in contexts you would never have agreed to, for purposes that damage your reputation or career, and for longer than you intended. A release that is too narrow can create disputes about permitted use that the brand will resist. Cardinal Counsel advises models and brands on model release drafting and on disputes arising from unauthorised use of model imagery.
Common Modelling Disputes in Nigeria
The Model Who Walked Off Set
A brand books a named model through an agency, pays a deposit, assembles its crew and location, and on shoot day the model raises objections and abandons the set. The agency offers substitutes. The brand declines. The deposit is not returned.
This is one of the most common disputes Cardinal Counsel is instructed to resolve. The brand is almost always entitled to its deposit back and to compensation for the consequential losses it suffered because of the failed shoot. The strength of the brand’s position depends on the documentation available: the booking agreement, the payment receipt, and the WhatsApp or email correspondence showing what was agreed and how the breakdown occurred.
The Agency That Retained the Deposit
A shoot breaks down and the agency refuses to return the deposit, claiming the model performed her obligations or that the brand was responsible for the failure. In most cases where Cardinal Counsel reviews the facts, the agency’s position does not withstand scrutiny. An agency that retains a deposit for services not rendered has been unjustly enriched, and the brand is entitled to recover it.
The Model Placed Internationally Who Terminates
A Nigerian mother agency invests months or years in developing a model, funds portfolio shoots, advances living costs, and secures the model a placement with an international booking agency in London, Paris, or New York. Within weeks of the model arriving abroad, the international agency encourages the model to terminate the Nigerian contract. The Nigerian agency receives nothing beyond whatever advances it has already recovered.
This is one of the most commercially damaging patterns in the Nigerian modelling industry and one that a properly drafted mother agency agreement can address. Cardinal Counsel advises Nigerian agencies on how to structure their agreements to protect their investment in model development and to recover their costs when a model terminates following international placement.
The Brand That Used the Images Without Permission
A brand uses a model’s images beyond the permitted scope of the agreed release, on additional platforms, in additional territories, or for campaigns the model never approved. The model and agency are entitled to additional compensation for the unauthorised use, and in appropriate cases, to take legal action for infringement of the model’s performance rights under the Nigerian Copyright Act 2022.
The Agency That Was Never Paid
A brand confirms a booking, the shoot takes place, and the agency is not paid. Or the brand pays the model directly in breach of the restrictive clause in the booking agreement. Cardinal Counsel advises agencies on recovering unpaid fees and on the enforcement of direct dealing restrictions against models and brands alike.
What You Can Recover
If a modelling agreement has broken down through the fault of another party, you are entitled to be placed, as far as money can do it, in the position you would have been in had the contract been properly performed. In practical terms this means:
A brand whose shoot failed through the agency’s or model’s fault can claim a refund of the deposit paid and compensation for consequential losses including location costs, crew fees, transportation, catering, hair, makeup, and rescheduling expenses.
An agency whose model was prevented from performing by the brand’s conduct can claim the full agreed fee.
A model whose booking was cancelled without cause is entitled to the agreed performance fee.
An agency whose model terminated following international placement may be entitled to a scouting fee calculated on verified development costs, provided the mother agency agreement contains the appropriate provisions.
Documentation determines the outcome of these disputes. The parties that recover the most are consistently the parties that preserved their contracts, payment records, and correspondence from the outset. WhatsApp messages, bank transfer receipts, invoices, and email chains are all relevant evidence. Cardinal Counsel advises clients on evidence preservation as a first step in every dispute.
The FCCPC: A Tool Most Parties Are Not Using
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has jurisdiction over unfair commercial practices in Nigeria under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018. An agency or brand that accepts payment for services and fails to deliver them may be in violation of the Act. Cardinal Counsel files concurrent FCCPC complaints alongside demand letters in appropriate cases, creating regulatory pressure that tends to accelerate resolution significantly.
Data Protection Compliance for Modelling Agencies
A modelling agency collects and processes significant volumes of personal data: names, passport details, bank account information, physical measurements, health information, and photographic images. Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, every agency that processes personal data of this kind is a data controller with specific legal obligations. Non-compliance with the NDPA 2023 is a source of regulatory exposure that most Nigerian modelling agencies have not yet addressed. Cardinal Counsel advises agencies on NDPA compliance, data protection clauses in model contracts, and the lawful transfer of model data to international booking agencies.
How Cardinal Counsel Can Help
Cardinal Counsel provides the following services to models, agencies, and brands in the Nigerian modelling industry:
Contract Review. We review your existing modelling contract before you sign it and advise you clearly on what it means, what it does not protect, and what should be changed.
Contract Drafting. We draft model contracts, mother agency agreements, booking agreements, and model release forms that are fit for purpose under Nigerian law and designed to protect your specific commercial interests.
Dispute Resolution. We assess your position in a dispute, advise on the strength of your claim, and issue formal demand letters that put the other party on notice of their legal exposure. Most modelling disputes in Nigeria settle at the demand letter stage when the other party understands that the evidence is against them and competent legal representation is involved.
Settlement Negotiation. We negotiate settlement on your behalf, including the terms of any confidentiality or non-disparagement provisions that the other party may seek to include.
FCCPC Complaints. We prepare and file formal complaints with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission where the other party’s conduct meets the relevant threshold.
Litigation. Where settlement is not possible, we advise on and prepare for formal proceedings before the appropriate Nigerian court.
Regulatory Compliance. We advise modelling agencies on compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, intellectual property obligations under the Nigerian Copyright Act 2022, and relevant provisions of the FCCPC Act 2018.
Contact Cardinal Counsel
If you are a model who has been offered a contract you do not fully understand, an agency whose booking has broken down, or a brand that has paid for services that were never delivered, Cardinal Counsel is ready to help.
Cardinal Counsel is led by Bernice Ofunre Asein, Esq., one of Africa’s foremost fashion lawyers and the author of Fashion Law in Africa (FLIAfrica Imprint, 2025), the first fashion law text published on the African continent. Bernice is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fashion Law Institute Africa, Founding Board Member and Legal Counsel to the Nigerian Fashion Council, and a twice-nominated recipient of the Future Africa Awards Prize for Law. She is an Adjunct Lecturer in fashion law at Yaba College of Technology through the Fashion Law in Practice programme and has worked with over 100 models and fashion industry professionals across Africa, providing access to specialist legal advice at every stage of a modelling career.
When you instruct Cardinal Counsel, you are not being passed to a generalist. You are working directly with a lawyer who has built her entire practice around the industry you operate in, who understands its contracts, its commercial dynamics, and its disputes, and who has the expertise and track record to protect your interests effectively.
If you are a model, agency, or brand in Nigeria or anywhere across Africa and need a specialist modelling lawyer for representation in Lagos, Abuja, or internationally in London, Dubai, New York, or elsewhere, or if you have a modelling dispute or need a model contract reviewed before you sign, contact Cardinal Counsel today.
Contact us today for a consultation.
Email: info@cardinalcounsel.co
Phone: +234 (0) 90 5262 8465
Website: www.cardinalcounsel.co
Address: Suite D14, Adeniran Ogunsanya Mall, Inside Shoprite Complex, 87 Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria.
Cardinal Counsel. Fashion Law. Done Properly.