Business & Investment
Company formation, contracts, financing and the everyday legal needs of a business operating under OHADA law.
Enonchong Chambers · Douala, Cameroon
Your counsel in Cameroon.
Your counsel in Cameroon.
Since 1970.
We advise businesses and individuals, resolve disputes and represent clients before the courts. Our lawyers work in English and French, drawing on experience in both common law and civil law.
- Offices
- 355 rue Alfred Saker, Akwa, Douala
- Working languages
- English and French
- Established
- 1970
Practice areas
How can the firm help?
Disputes & Representation
Representation before the Cameroonian courts, in arbitration and against the State, from first instance to the Supreme Court.
Individuals & Families
Successions, family matters, land and the personal disputes that call for a lawyer once in a lifetime.
The founder
1970
Barrister Henry N. A. Enonchong, PhD
Barrister Henry N. A. Enonchong, PhD, founded the firm in Douala after leaving the law faculty of the Federal University of Yaounde. Called to the English Bar at Gray’s Inn and holder of a Georgetown doctorate, he wrote the first treatise on Cameroonian constitutional law and was among the founders of the Cameroon Bar Association.
Since 2001 the firm has practiced from the Sherman Building on rue Alfred Saker, built in 1948. The story of the building →
People
The lawyers today
Eleven lawyers, led by Barrister Sylvain Oum Enonchong, PhD, working across the practice areas in English and French.
Barrister Sylvain Oum Enonchong, PhD
Managing Partner
Holds a doctorate in private law and has been a member of the Cameroon Bar since 2015. Heads the firm and teaches at the University of Buea.
More about Sylvain
Barrister Eric Bayo
Attorney
Business lawyer with a focus on insurance, banking and transport, and international arbitration. Also advises individuals on real estate, family property and immigration matters.
More about Eric
Barrister Camille Massi
Attorney
Barrister Bimong Diboule
Attorney
The firm
One firm, two legal traditions
Cameroon governs itself under two inherited legal traditions at once. The common law applies in the North West and South West Regions; a civil law system of French inspiration applies in the other eight. Legislation is published in both official languages, and the two versions do not always agree. A firm that works in only one language, or only one tradition, sees half the picture.
The ten regions of Cameroon and the legal tradition each applies. Douala, where the firm is based, lies in the civil law Littoral Region, an hour from the common law South West.
Legal guides
Practical notes on Cameroonian law
Written for people dealing with a specific problem, not for other lawyers. Each note sets out what the law requires, what the deadlines are, and which documents are needed.
Company formation
How to register a company in Cameroon
The official target is 72 hours through the CFCE. What actually determines the timeline is the choice of form, whether a notary is required, and the documents assembled before the file is opened.
SuccessionSuccession law in Cameroon: what an estate is governed by
Three bodies of law can apply to the same estate, and which one applies to a given asset is usually the whole question. A family holding property in Douala and in Bamenda faces both regimes at once.
Family lawDivorce procedure in Cameroon
The choice made at the marriage ceremony, monogamous or polygamous, governs its property and inheritance consequences and is difficult to change afterward. It usually decides more than the grounds for divorce.
Debt recoveryThe 2024 OHADA debt recovery reform: shorter deadlines, faster enforcement
The revised Uniform Act came into force on 16 February 2024. Every significant deadline in the injunction to pay procedure is now shorter than it was, and a debtor working from the old deadlines loses the right to be heard.
Contact
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.