The Firm
A general practice in Douala since 1970, for businesses and for families, in both of Cameroon’s legal traditions.
The chambers today
The firm is led by Barrister Sylvain Oum Enonchong, PhD, who holds a doctorate in private law and is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Buea, with a team of eleven lawyers.
Clients are received at the offices at 355 rue Alfred Saker in Akwa, Douala, or by video call. Matters are handled in English or French, according to the client’s preference.
The Sherman Building
The chambers occupy a building with a history of its own. In 1948, Madame Reine Lepersonnier Sherman secured a long-term lease on this site on rue Alfred Saker and had the Sherman Building constructed. She lived upstairs and ran her atelier on the ground floor, where she made and sold objects in ebony and ivory. In 1965 she purchased the property outright from its local owners.
When Madame Sherman died in 1980, the property passed to her two children, both living in the United States. With the assistance of Barrister Henry N. A. Enonchong, PhD, the firm’s founder, they established SCI ABANE in 1981 to hold and manage it. The Nigerian Consulate occupied the building from 1982 to 1986. On September 1, 1986, the Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures took over, establishing its Littoral regional headquarters here before moving to premises of its own in Douala.
In 2001, after SNH’s departure, Enonchong Chambers moved in. Founded in 1970, the firm had spent its first thirty-one years in Bali, beside the Lycée Technique. Barrister Enonchong managed SCI ABANE for twenty-seven years, from its formation until his death in 2008; one of his daughters manages the company today. The building remains the property of the Sherman heirs through SCI ABANE and continues to house Enonchong Chambers.
- 1948Built for Madame Sherman
- 1965Purchased outright
- 1981SCI ABANE formed
- 1982–1986Nigerian Consulate
- 1986SNH, Littoral regional headquarters
- 2001Enonchong Chambers
About the firm
Enonchong Chambers was founded in 1970 by Barrister Henry N. A. Enonchong, PhD, after he resigned from the law faculty of the Federal University of Yaounde. He held an LLB from the University of London, had been called to the English Bar at Gray's Inn, and had earned an LLM at Howard University and a Doctor of Comparative Jurisprudence degree at Georgetown. He wrote the first treatise on Cameroonian constitutional law and was among the founders of the Cameroon Bar Association. The firm he established handled the full range of litigation and advisory work, and it trained attorneys who went on to build practices of their own. His biography is published on this site.
How the firm works
The practice covers both advisory work and litigation. On the advisory side, it covers commercial contracts and company documents, and ongoing legal counsel to businesses and individuals. On the litigation side, it covers pleadings, motions and briefs, and representation in court.
Clients are received at the offices in Akwa or by video call. Matters are handled in English or French, according to the client's preference, and correspondence is answered in the language it was written in. That is not a courtesy. Cameroon publishes its legislation in both official languages and the two versions do not always agree; the discrepancy is sometimes the point in dispute. The firm works from both texts.
Where the firm appears
- The Courts of First Instance and the High Courts, in the Littoral and elsewhere
- The Courts of Appeal, and the Supreme Court in Yaounde, including its Common Law Division
- The administrative bench, on matters against the State and public bodies
- Arbitral tribunals constituted under the OHADA Uniform Act, the CCJA Rules and the ICC Rules
- The Common Court of Justice and Arbitration in Abidjan, on matters governed by a Uniform Act
- The African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) in Yaounde, on filings and oppositions
Regulation
The firm is registered with the Cameroon Bar Association. Its attorneys practice under Law No. 90/059 of 19 December 1990 governing the practice of law, and are bound by the professional obligations that Law and the Bar's Internal Regulations impose, including attorney-client confidentiality.
Speak with an attorney
Enonchong Chambers meets with clients at its offices at 355 rue Alfred Saker in Akwa, Douala, and by video call. Correspondence in English or French is answered in the language it was written in.