Esther Sandrine Ngom

Esther Sandrine NGOM has been a member of the Cameroon Bar since 2018 and an Intellectual Property Consultant accredited by the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) since 2009. She has also been a researcher and practitioner in digital law and legistics since 2011. She is the founder of the law firm Yii Attorneys.

Her areas of expertise include:

• intellectual property;
• technology Law (personal data protection, NFTs and crypto-assets, e-commerce/electronic transactions, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, business law applied to new technologies, etc.);
• OHADA corporate and business law;
• international Trade Law, with a specific focus on AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area) law;
• sports law;
• natural resources law (forestry, biodiversity, climate, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, digital sequence information on genetic resources);
• insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings;
• alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

She also serves as:

• Co-founder and Coordinator of Matila Lab, a legal research laboratory based in Douala, Cameroon. The lab focuses on Intellectual Property, Technology Law, International Trade Law (WTO/AfCFTA), Sports Law, and Natural Resources Law. The lab mentors young African researchers and publishes journals as well as Business/Policy Papers in its fields of research;
• President of the National Appeals Commission and the National Legal Commission of the Cameroon Basketball Federation;
• Trainer in her areas of expertise for various public and private institutions. This includes serving as a Visiting Lecturer at the École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (ESSEC), a GIZ-certified trainer in Biodiversity Law, and a consultant for the State of Cameroon and various regional/international entities. In this capacity, she has trained numerous local and indigenous communities in negotiating contracts related to the exploitation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge by multinational pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and agribusiness corporations.

She is a member of:

• The Conférence Internationale des Barreaux (CIB) – the international conference of bars with a common legal tradition;
• Internet Society (ISOC) – Cameroon Chapter, where she has previously served as both Secretary General and President;
• AFRALO (African Regional At-Large Organization), a structure within ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which brings together individual Internet users and technical groups in the African region to help shape the future of the Internet;
• The Association of Legal Experts in Insolvency Proceedings (Honorary President).

Furthermore, she has contributed to the drafting of legislation in Cameroon and the Central African region (ECCAS) regarding Intellectual Property (notably working on the AfCFTA Protocol on IP Rights and its annexes), Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (including drafting model IP contracts used under this law), Technology Law (working on the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade and its annexes), and Regional Investment Law (working on the AfCFTA Protocol on Investment and its annexes).

A frequent speaker at numerous national and international conferences over the past 15 years—covering Intellectual Property, Technology Law (particularly data protection and AI), Sports Law, Genetic Resource Law, and Special Contracts—Esther Sandrine NGOM is also the author of several forthcoming books on Intellectual Property and Technology Law.