White & Case partners to forge fresh African links
White & Case is to relocate a number of London-based lawyers to Africa as part of a push into the continent.
Western Europe regional head David Barwise and Europe, the Middle East and Africa project finance group co-head Philip Stopford visited the firm’s Johannesburg office last week to consolidate plans to enhance the firm’s projects and finance practice in the region.
London capital markets partner Tim Jeveons said: “White & Case’s specialism is emerging markets and Africa has a lot of potential for us. We’ve had an office in Johannesburg, which focuses on projects, for 15 years. We now want to build a finance practice that serves Sub-Saharan Africa and Northern Africa.”
As part of the push the US firm will be developing informal ties with local African firms as well as operating the practice out of the Johannesburg and London offices.
Although the firm hopes to win work across Africa the main focus will be Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda.
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Readers' comments (16)
mary | 7-Apr-2009 4:06 pm
I think this is a really good idea. The work is drying up in a lot of countries and Africa remains relatively untouched by international law firms. There is a fair bit of money in Africa that could be invested internationally and firms could do well by getting close to that.
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Anonymous | 8-Apr-2009 12:54 pm
At least the partners are going to the best emerging market in the world right now. If you're in Angola, Mozambique or Johannesburg you're pretty much guaranteed to be a success, with hard work of course.
I wish I was getting posted there rather than picking up redundancy over here!
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Colin | 8-Apr-2009 3:57 pm
Africa is a huge continent and clearly has a lot to offer international firms. I'm glad to hear that White & Case will be working alongside local firms. The markets there are so diverse that it wouldn't make sense for the firm to try to go in alone. How complex is the system for international firms setting up there though? Do they have to go through the same strict regulatory regimes as in Asia?
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Anonymous | 14-Apr-2009 3:01 pm
Hmm. While it's true that partners come and go, W&C is definitely going through tough times of its own, irrespective of what's happening globally. They've lost key partners in London, Asia and New York, and have failed to capitalize on their advantages in emerging markets like Brazil.
Again, partners come and go, but the amount of ship-jumping that has been seen at W&C in the past year or so should give one pause to consider.
Perhaps the global crisis will allow them to rebuild while everyone else is also retrenching; on the other hand, W&C might be severely weakened already and might not recover.
Not making any dire predictions but considering the size and scope of this firm, it definitely will make for interesting watching.
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Anonymous | 6-Oct-2009 5:07 pm
good luck with the competition in those markets.
Many Portuguese firms hold the monopolies and contacts in the majority of business operations in those countries!!!
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zimbabweanprincess | 20-Nov-2009 2:33 pm
once again, milk africa for what it's got!
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