DLA Piper falls in with Kenyan firm

The two firms have signed an agreement that will see IKM get first refusal on all work DLA Piper ­carries out in Kenya, while DLA Piper is able to use IKM’s name in its pitches and publicity material.

This is the sixth African firm to join the DLA Piper Africa group - exclusive relationships already exist with firms in Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

International partner David Church and Africa director Grant Henderson will manage the Kenyan alliance, following on from a connection originally struck up through South African alliance firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.

Managing partner at Nairobi-based IKM James Kamau said: “That work has ranged from M&A to IP, tax, private equity and estate planning and involved investments into Kenya by South African countries. Cliffe Dekker was on the other side, then we started referring matters to them in which we felt we needed the expertise of a major law firm.”

IKM has five partners and 12 associates and counts Barclays Bank, Coca-Cola, Hewlett Packard and Nation Media Group, among its clients.