Bernice Ofunre Asein, Esq. is a Nigerian fashion lawyer, institution-builder and policy advocate working at the intersection of fashion, law and business.
She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fashion Law Institute Africa (FLIAfrica), the first institution on the continent dedicated to fashion law. Through FLIAfrica, she has built a platform focused on fashion-law education, research, access to justice and policy, including its Fashion Legal Clinic, which has supported more than 200 fashion businesses and creatives.
Bernice is also the Managing Partner of Cardinal Counsel, a Lagos-based law firm advising fashion brands, creative businesses, startups and other growing enterprises. Her legal practice spans intellectual property, commercial contracts and licensing, business structuring, regulatory compliance, market entry and expansion, and dispute resolution.
As a Founding Board Member and Legal Counsel to the Nigerian Fashion Council, she contributes to the development of professional standards and policy frameworks for Nigeria’s fashion, textiles, leather and accessories sector. Her work increasingly focuses on the legal and institutional infrastructure required for African fashion businesses to formalise, scale and compete globally.
She is the author of Fashion Law in Africa (2025) and convenes the annual Fashion Law and Business Conference, bringing together stakeholders across fashion, law, business and policy. She also teaches fashion law at Yaba College of Technology.
Bernice has been featured, interviewed and quoted across African and international media, including BBC Africa, OkayAfrica, BusinessDay, Culture Custodian and FashionUnited, reflecting her growing profile as a voice on African fashion, intellectual property, creative business and policy.
Her professional training includes fashion law at the Milano Fashion Institute, intellectual property training through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Intellectual Property Institute of Nigeria, and public leadership and policy training through the School of Politics, Policy and Governance.
Her work is driven by a broader question: what legal and institutional structures does African fashion need to build sustainable businesses, protect its intellectual property and compete globally while retaining value at home?