I cannot begin to tell you how sad I was to hear about Robert today. Please accept my sincere condolences, personally as well as on behalf of the entire Lex Mundi team. I can only imagine, given Robert’s presence, how much he will be missed by all at your firm. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all and with Robert’s family.

I have sent this message to the Managing Partners within our membership:

I am writing to you today with the very sad news that our colleague and friend Rob Legh, Chair of our South African member firm Bowmans, passed away on Thursday evening.

Rob was central to the relationship Bowmans had with Lex Mundi. He was the personification of the quality, excellence and sophistication of that firm and his warmth, friendliness and generosity of character made him the perfect ambassador for Bowmans.

Rob was a regular attendee at Lex Mundi conferences and events, particularly the conferences just prior to the annual IBA conference and he was a staunch supporter of Lex Mundi’s Middle East and Africa regional initiatives.

We often say that Lex Mundi events create relationships that go beyond business and become lifelong friendships and I am sure many of you who will have met Rob at an event will have developed that strong friendship with him.

I was personally fortunate enough to meet him many years before I joined Lex Mundi when I was in-house at the Virgin group and was a client of Bowmans.

More recently, my last in-person visit to a member firm was in Johannesburg where Rob and the Bowmans team were, as always, and as he had always been to me, so welcoming and kind.