Ayoka Akinosi, Principal Corporate Counsel at technology company Microsoft, speaks to In-House Perspective about her career in cross-border corporate compliance, the challenges she has faced and what makes in-house roles meaningful to her.

Ayoka Akinosi grew up in Lagos, in West Nigeria. Her family was heavily involved in the church and valued education, service and accountability, which shaped her ambition. Always curious and excited by the opportunity to learn, she chose to embark on a legal career. ‘I also naturally took on a “defender” role in my family,’ she says. ‘As the eldest daughter, I often found myself speaking up.’

Her journey in law began with the completion of two legal degrees in Nigeria. Following that she joined a commercial law firm in Lagos, where she advised clients on public-private partnerships and infrastructure projects. This experience taught her the importance of well-designed guardrails to ensure government projects financed by the private sector meet the standards expected of them.

Between 2011 and 2014 Akinosi worked at the African Development Bank, where she learned about governance and integrity on a large, international scale. An integrity analyst, she helped develop the Bank’s integrity function, conducted internal investigations and designed sanctions processes. She describes working on the Bank’s due diligence framework as one of her proudest achievements. ‘It was still early in my career, and I was fearless, in the best way. Due diligence in development finance wasn’t yet widely standardised, so we were breaking new ground,’ she says.

Development projects financed by the Bank are located in Africa but many of the companies involved are found outside the region, in the Americas, Asia and Europe. Akinosi worked on multiple cross-border investigations that together led to over $45m being recovered in penalties. The work included a probe also involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission into a Japanese multinational over alleged bribery.

Legal principles in a global context

Following her time at the Bank, Akinosi completed a legal masters at Harvard Law School. Next, Akinosi – who’s admitted to practice at the Nigerian, New York and DC bars – accepted a position as an associate at the law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed based in Washington, DC and later Paris, where she advised companies on compliance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related anti-corruption laws.

Akinosi says one of the challenges she faced was translating global principles and technical expertise into practical guidance for different cultural environments. ‘For instance, in some countries, whistleblowing had historically carried a social stigma, often due to political histories where informing on others was viewed negatively,’ she says. ‘And in some regions, gift-giving is part of the relationship-building process and carries no expectation of impropriety. In others, even a modest gesture may raise red flags.’

Akinosi says she has learned that success when working in diverse cultural environments comes from ‘cultural fluency’ and being able to adapt technical expertise without compromising its integrity.

After eight years at the firm, Akinosi joined oil refining company Neste in Houston, Texas as the senior compliance counsel and regional compliance officer for the Americas. She was attracted by the opportunity to design a legal compliance system from the ground up and be part of the ‘full lifecycle’ of a business. She also enjoyed helping the company to make meaningful and ethical decisions day-to-day that balanced risk in an appropriate way.

To be an effective in-house counsel, Akinosi says, a person needs a baseline of technical expertise, but also clarity of thought and the ability to partner with various stakeholders across the business. ‘In-house, no one has time to read a 20-page memo,’ she says. ‘The business needs crisp, actionable advice. It’s about being able to say: “Here’s the issue. Here’s the risk. And here’s how we can move forward”.’

Akinosi believes that another important skill for in-house counsel is being comfortable ‘influencing without authority’. As part of a larger ecosystem, it is often the lawyer’s role to guide decisions rather than make them. ‘That takes confidence, diplomacy, and the ability to align legal guidance with the company’s values and risk appetite,’ she says.

Guardrails for the revolution

Today Akinosi is the Principal Corporate Counsel at Microsoft and works in the company’s compliance and ethics function based in Redmond, Washington. She helps the company anticipate and address risks related to anti-corruption and internal controls across the company. ‘Microsoft is fast-paced and constantly evolving but it’s grounded in a mission that resonates deeply with me: empowering people and organisations to do more,’ she says.

Akinosi is inspired by Microsoft’s reputation as a global leader in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its commitment to ensuring the technology is used fairly and responsibly. Microsoft has made several long-term investments in this area, including a partnership with OpenAI that involves using its AI models across Microsoft products, including its search engine and software such as Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

While AI isn’t an opportunity to replace legal judgement, Akinosi says, such tools do and will bring many benefits to legal professionals, including by allowing them to focus more on complex issues and delegate routine daily tasks such as legal research and document review. Akinosi recalls the first investigation she worked on where she had to manually review over 300,000 pages. ‘Today, we have tools that can sift through that volume in a fraction of the time, highlighting key themes, anomalies and risks,’ she says.

Akinosi highlights, however, that it’s important there are guardrails in place around AI technology to mitigate any issues that may arise, such as misuse, bias and hallucinations. ‘If we build responsibly, AI can help us do our work not just faster, but better and more ethically,’ she says.

‘Guard your fearlessness’

Looking back, Akinosi credits her bold younger self for the challenging and diverse opportunities she has had throughout her career. ‘It meant a lot to me to be able to take the legal education I received in Nigeria and apply it to work that had global reach and real-world impact. The sense of translation and scaling your skills across borders, across institutions, is something I carry with me in every role I take on,’ she says.

Akinosi’s bravery and enthusiasm also extends to her personal life. Working in Paris, she chose to cycle around the hectic city. ‘Most people thought I was crazy for doing it! Despite one accident, I absolutely loved it, it was such a beautiful way to experience the city’, she says. In her spare time, Akinosi also enjoys walking her Boston terrier, Sisi, in different parks and on trails, as well as photography.

If she could rewind the clock, Akinosi would tell her younger self to continue to take risks and not be afraid to throw herself into new opportunities. ‘As you gain experience, it’s natural to become more cautious,’ she says. ‘When I was younger that instinct – to say yes to what scares you a little – carried me across borders and through doors I couldn’t have imagined. So, I’d say: keep that instinct. Stay open. Stay curious. Guard your fearlessness. It’s one of your greatest strengths.’