As foreign advisers size up Africa, CC linked to alliance bid in South Africa

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South Africa has faced more than its fair share of economic and social challenges in recent years, but with foreign investors and international law firms attempting to tap into the wider region, the queue of firms looking to enter the country is lengthening.

Recent years have seen DLA Piper and Baker & McKenzie enter the market, while Norton Rose and Linklaters have tied up with top tier local advisers. Now the word in Joburg is that Clifford Chance (CC) is aiming to strike a similar deal to the alliance between Webber Wentzel and Linklaters, which went live on 1 February.

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Africa expansion: Eversheds in talks to launch in five key jurisdictions

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Eversheds is significantly expanding its Africa offering and is currently in discussions to establish offices in the key markets of Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya over the coming months.

The 1760-lawyer firm has also today (1 October) announced the launch of the Eversheds African Law Institute (EALI), which will share knowledge, training and regional and international commercial opportunities with member firms. Continue reading “Africa expansion: Eversheds in talks to launch in five key jurisdictions”

Clydes and Charles Russell establish new footprints while Kinstellar snares 10-lawyer team from Dentons’ expanding Kazakhstan operation

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The start of September has seen international firms reinvigorate their expansion plans, with Clyde & Co revealing an Indonesian alliance after joining forces with Indonesian law firm, while Charles Russell has extended its global footprint with the opening of an office in Qatar. Elsewhere, central and eastern European focused firm Kinstellar launched its seventh office located in Kazakhstan, hiring a team from Dentons, which has just opened a second office in the CIS state.

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Can’t make an omelette – newly-merged Norton Rose Fulbright sees exodus in Middle East

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So far the high-stakes merger between Norton Rose and US practice Fulbright & Jaworski has been sealed with minimal fall-out but a prominent exception has been confirmed in the Middle East with an eight-partner team quitting the legacy Houston law firm’s Dubai arm for a rival.

Baker Botts today (16 July) confirmed the hire of a 14-lawyer team, which includes the bulk of the legacy Fulbright & Jaworski’s Dubai branch. Continue reading “Can’t make an omelette – newly-merged Norton Rose Fulbright sees exodus in Middle East”

Gulf stream – the heat returns to the Middle East markets

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Post-banking crisis, the world has generally divided fairly neatly into two camps with their clear economic narratives. On one hand there are the Western economies burdened by slow growth and creaking public finances. On the other, are emerging powers in Asia, Latin America and Africa – which have mostly surged ahead while Europe staggered.

Where the Middle East fits into this picture, however, remains undecided. As one of the most touted legal markets during the boom, the region’s resource-rich economy was driven by surging commodity prices, high inward investment and the growing status of Dubai as an international hub.

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Edwards Wildman joins the ranks of international firms in Istanbul

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The increased importance of Turkey as strategic hub for international firms has been underlined with news that US firm Edwards Wildman Palmer is to open an office in Istanbul in association with local M&A and private equity boutique Ismen Law Firm.

The date of the opening will depend on regulatory approval by the Istanbul Bar Association but it will become the 600-lawyer firm’s the first office in the Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa (CEEMENA) region. Continue reading “Edwards Wildman joins the ranks of international firms in Istanbul”

HSF ends exclusive association in Saudi Arabia

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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is to end its five-year exclusive tie-up with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ghazzawi Professional Association (GPA), as international activity in the region shows no sign of slowing down.

The two firms’ association formally ends on 1 August, but HSF will continue to co-operate with GPA on a non-exclusive basis. Neither firm has plans to enter into another exclusive association at this time.

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Israel – New Heights

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In a Tel Aviv conference in June this year, DLA Piper, White & Case, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil, Gotshal & Manges will rub shoulders with Israel’s legal elite in discussing the liberalisation and internationalisation of the country’s legal market. The conference, hosted by the Tel Aviv District Israel Bar Association and legal marketing and consulting company Robus, highlights the growing presence of international law firms in Israel. And while this may bear all the hallmarks of another instance of empire building by international advisers, the reality is actually a little more nuanced.

Israel may have only just liberalised its legal market to allow foreign entrants – through an order passed by the Israeli finance minister in August 2012 – but many firms have long been present in the jurisdiction unofficially. Regardless of whether the liberalisation process will fundamentally alter the state of the market or not, there is concern about its effect on the domestic Bar, which is already saturated by highly qualified Israeli lawyers, including immigrants who previously practised overseas.

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Ashurst expansion continues full throttle

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Ashurst’s recent appetite for international expansion shows no sign of abating, with the firm announcing in November the launch of a new operation in Saudi Arabia.

The firm will soon be able to practise Saudi law after establishing a partnership with Faisal Adnan Baassiri, the former head of legal at Ashurst client Saudi Economic and Development Company (Sedco).

Baassiri has experience working in private practice: he worked at Osama S. Al-Yamani law firm in Jeddah, where the Ashurst office will open under the official name of Law Office of Faisal Baassiri in association with Ashurst. Continue reading “Ashurst expansion continues full throttle”

Africa: into Africa

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Recently it seems that not a week goes by without new clamour surrounding another legal market as law firms race to enter countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. But of all the new frontiers that have been gaining favour with law firms, Africa’s focal points are the most difficult to pinpoint.

Australia’s immense popularity clearly leverages off its status as an English-speaking platform into key Asian markets, while the most popular hubs in Latin America are Brazil and Mexico – the two largest economies in the region. However Africa’s size and multiplicity of languages dictates that the continent has a plethora of regional springboards: UK firms are attracted to South Africa; Francophone firms have made Morocco their regional hub; while Lusophone players have rushed into Portuguese-speaking countries. And collaboration between those centres is far from straightforward. Continue reading “Africa: into Africa”