Thirty Years of Law, Survival, and Fighting for Women
“Bone by bone, hair by hair, Wild Woman comes back. Through night dreams, through events half understood and half remembered…”
I am Lesley Agams: lawyer, writer, feminist, country expert and incurable breaker-down of complicated things.
For over three decades, I have worked at the intersection of law, gender, power, and justice, helping Nigerian women navigate some of the most difficult moments of their lives. My work has spanned litigation, public policy, research, advocacy, and institutional reform.
But my journey did not begin in a courtroom.
It began with survival.
My Lived Story: The First Case I Ever Fought Was My Own
Before I became a lawyer, I was a teenage mother, a young bride, and later, a divorced woman fighting painful custody battles in a system that was not designed for women like me. I learned early that the Nigerian courts test your strength, your voice, and sometimes your sanity.
Those experiences became the foundation of my work.
I learned family law because I needed to defend myself.
I mastered family law because I wanted other women to have the knowledge I didn’t.
I teach family law today because Nigerian women still need it.
My Work: Justice, Research & Institutional Change
Since the early 2000s, I’ve been deeply involved in research, advocacy, and reform around domestic and sexual violence in Nigeria. My work includes:
📌 Research & Documentation (Since 2002)
- Local studies on prevalence and incidence of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault
- Community research on harmful traditional practices
- Survivor-centered evidence collection
- Policy briefs and expert analyses for NGOs and international institutions
📌 Frontline Advocacy
I work with the Women’s Crisis Centre and other grassroots organisations supporting survivors of:
- domestic violence
- coercive control
- rape and sexual assault
- child abuse
- forced marriage
Here, I see the raw realities behind court files. Those experiences shaped my approach to law and justice.
📌 Policy, Safeguarding & Sexual Harassment Reform
I have contributed to gender, safeguarding, and harassment reforms in Nigeria and globally, including:
- Developing sexual harassment policies and conducting training for Nigerian universities
- Contributing to global safeguarding reforms during my time at Oxfam GB
- Supporting institutional responses to sexual harassment, misconduct, and power abuse
- Advising organisations on structural misogyny and safe workplaces
My Legal Practice: 100s of Cases, 30 Years of Courtroom Lessons
My legal expertise includes:
- Customary & Statutory Marriage
- Custody & Maintenance
- Divorce & Property Distribution
- Domestic Violence & VAPP Act litigation
- Sexual Harassment & Workplace Misconduct
- Evidence collection in digital abuse cases
- Expert testimony on gender, power, women and country conditions.
Over the years, I have handled hundreds of real cases including complex marriages, high-profile disputes, quiet tragedies, and unforgettable courtroom dramas that taught me how the Nigerian legal system actually works.
MzAgams is where Nigerian law meets real life.
Through storytelling, humour, real case studies and plain-English legal education, I explain the laws Nigerians live under but are rarely taught to understand especially the laws affecting women, marriage, divorce, children, property, violence and power.
I write the things women whisper in corners.
I explain the laws people do not know exist.
And I say some of the things lawyers wish they could say in public.
MzAgams is informed, irreverent and unapologetic.
Why I Speak
I speak because silence kills—literally.
I speak because Nigerian women deserve legal literacy, protection, and justice, not just sympathy.
I speak because I have seen first-hand how patriarchy operates in courts, homes, workplaces, politics, and now online.
I speak because women’s rights require knowledge, courage, and community.
And I speak because I have lived the consequences of ignorance—and the liberation of the truth.
Today: My Work Continues
My mission is simple:
To ensure Nigerian women understand the law, assert their rights, protect themselves, and raise generations free from violence and coercion.
MzAgams is Lesley Agams’s flagship digital publication and archive, best known for its accessible explanations of Nigerian divorce, child custody and family law. It also covers labour and employment law, women’s rights, safeguarding, international development, politics, institutional accountability, personal memoir, travel and pop culture, through legal education, storytelling, humour, real cases and feminist analysis.
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