DLA Piper has announced the launch of an office in Morocco, ahead of its planned move into South Africa early next year.

The new office will be DLA’s first base on the continent.

The firm has hired Clifford Chance counsel Christophe Bachelet to lead the new office, along with partner Mehdi Kettani who joins from local firm Kettani Associés. The team will also include counsel Mohamed Mahjoubi.

Bachelet will bring experience in Moroccan corporate work, while Kettani focuses on litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters. Mahjoubi advises project sponsors, corporates and government entitites in energy, mining and infrastructure projects.

The Casablanca office follows news earlier this year that DLA was dissolving its alliance with South African firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr in favour of setting up its own office in Johannesburg. The firm has already hired Cliffe Dekker chief operating officer Michael Whitaker to lead the development of the South Africa office, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2016.

The two offices will work closely with DLA’s Paris base as well as the 15 firms which are members of the DLA Piper Africa Group.

In a statement DLA global co-CEOs Simon Levine and Jay Rains said Morocco and South Africa were “amongst the strongest economic bases in Africa for many of our clients”.

They added: “Having an office in Casablanca is crucial to the continued development of our business in Francophone Africa and establishing our own presence in Johannesburg will enable us to better serve our clients there and beyond.”

DLA joins a number of other international firms in Morocco. Last year Dentons raided French firm UGGC & Associés to open an office there, following in the wake of Eversheds earlier in the year.

Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Norton Rose Fulbright all opened in Morocco in 2011 and Baker & McKenzie set up there in 2012.