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An African Law firm with global reach

Recognising the size and enormous diversity of Africa, our approach to providing legal services across the continent is intended to offer on-the-ground advice in the countries that matter for our clients. Our presence in Africa is always evolving to meet the changes that are shaping the future of this vast continent.

Currently, we have our own offices in six African countries: Kenya (Nairobi), Mauritius (Moka), Namibia (Windhoek, Swakopmund), South Africa (Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg), Tanzania (Dar es Salaam) and Zambia (Lusaka).

We work closely with our Bowmans Alliance firms in Ethiopia (Aman & Partners LLP) and Nigeria (Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie). These are two of the leading corporate and commercial law firms in their jurisdictions.

We have special relationships with firms in Mozambique and Uganda. We also have a non-exclusive co-operation agreement with French international law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel that provides our clients access to assistance in Francophone West and North Africa.

We ensure that, whenever our clients need legal advice in other parts of Africa, we can assist them by tapping into our comprehensive database of contacts of the best firms and practitioners across the continent.

On the global front, Bowmans has long-standing and excellent relationships with a range of international law firms with whom we often work on Africa-focused client mandates. We are also a member firm of Lex Mundi, a global association of independent law firms in in more than 125 countries, which gives us the ability to connect our clients with the best law firms in each of the countries represented.

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

Kenya

Our Nairobi office, Coulson Harney LLP, is one of the largest and best-known corporate law firms in Kenya.

We advise a wide spectrum of clients in the private sector, institutional and multi-national organisations, foreign investors and governmental institutions.

Our advocates practice Kenyan law but we also have foreign-law expertise especially in English law banking and finance matters and corporate/commercial transactions. Other specialist areas include work on intellectual property, tech-law, arbitration, tax, energy, project finance, capital markets, investigations and corporate services.

Our Kenya firm works with the teams in our offices elsewhere on the continent on many cross-border mandates for international clients. We work as one firm across Africa, for Africa.

Awards

Managing IP Awards EMEA: Kenya Law Firm of the Year, 2024
Chambers Africa Awards: Kenya Law Firm of the Year, 2022
Africa Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Awards: Outstanding Legal Advisor, 2022

See more of our accolades.

Key contacts

Paras Shah

Managing Partner | Kenya

Richard Harney

Senior Partner | Kenya

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

Mauritius

We are recognised specialists in structuring global business vehicles, including those appropriate for funds and financial services providers, for clients using Mauritius as a gateway to the rest of Africa.

Our team consists of experienced local practitioners who are known for delivering bespoke and quality legal services while remaining accessible and responsive to client needs.

We specialise in corporate, securities and regulatory law. We frequently advise on mergers and acquisitions and provide transactional support to investment funds and holding companies.

Our experience extends from general corporate matters to private equity capital markets and banking and finance.

Our clients consist of both local and international clients, including fund managers, private equity houses, management companies, banks and financial institutions.

See our accolades.

Key contacts

Fazil Hossenkhan

Managing Partner | Mauritius

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

Namibia

Our practice in Namibia is one of the largest and most established full-service corporate and commercial law firms in the country.

We are trusted advisors to many of the major players in the Namibian economy and have a strong track record in corporate and commercial and banking and finance law, and in litigation and dispute resolution.

Our extensive experience, particularly in energy and natural resources, infrastructure, property, maritime and shipping, and oil and gas, spans over 40 years.

Advising on complex transactions is a significant part of our offering. We have represented borrowers and lenders in the largest project finance transactions in Namibia to date. In the mergers and acquisitions space, we have also advised on some of the country’s most important mining transactions. Our experience extends to assisting clients with complex cross-jurisdictional merger filings and other competition law matters.

Our dispute resolution team members regularly litigate in the High Court and Supreme Court and are skilled in private arbitration and mediation. We implement dispute resolution strategies that are in the best interest of our clients, striving to deliver results in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.

Other areas of specialist knowledge are employment, insolvency, privacy and data protection law, along with real estate and conveyancing.

Our clients include national and international corporate entities, development and development finance institutions, and international law firms.

See our accolades.

Key contacts

Stephen Vlieghe

Managing Partner | Namibia

Irvin Titus

Senior Partner | Namibia

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

South Africa

We are widely regarded as one of the leading corporate law firms in the country. We have more than 300 specialist lawyers and a total staff complement of over 650.

Our specialist legal services cover the spectrum of corporate and commercial law, banking and finance law and dispute resolution. We are recognised for our professionalism and ability to assist clients in the region.

We draw on a solid knowledge of the local business environment and an in-depth understanding of the country’s complex socio-political climate to offer technical legal services and sound business advice.

We serve clients from both South Africa and around the world. Investment banks, industrial conglomerates, financial institutions, governments and state authorities are examples of clients who depend on us to handle their corporate legal affairs.

Compliance

Awards

Chambers Africa Awards: South Africa Law Firm of the Year, 2023
Who’s Who Legal: Country Firm of the Year: South Africa, 2023 and 2022
IFLR Africa Awards: Jurisdictional Firm of the Year: South Africa, 2022
IFLR Africa Awards: National Law Firm of the Year: South Africa, 2021

See more of our accolades.

Key contacts

Alan Keep

Managing Partner

Ezra Davids

Chairman and Senior Partner

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

Tanzania

We are experienced in significant transactions, regulatory matters and dispute resolution in Tanzania and the wider East African region.

Established in January 2017 with an experienced team, our office in Dar es Salaam has developed a reputation for excellent service in the region.

Our team comprises leading corporate and commercial lawyers and dispute resolution experts. We have extensive experience in proactively managing risks and offering commercial solutions to the challenges faced by our clients in the context of mergers and acquisitions, financings, joint ventures and capital markets transactions, among others. Our expertise extends to knowledge of the local law as it pertains to competition, employment and tax and experience in all key sectors including aviation, consumer goods, infrastructure, real estate, resources and telecommunications. We also have significant experience in all forms of dispute resolution including commercial arbitration, litigation and intellectual property disputes.

Our lawyers work with government authorities and regulators in all fields to ensure successful outcomes for clients within the necessary time frames.

Our clients include corporates, financial institutions and the public sector, both domestic and international, with existing operations in, or planned investments into, Tanzania.

Awards

Chambers Africa Awards: Tanzania Law Firm of the Year, 2024
IFLR Africa Awards: National Law Firm of the year: Tanzania, 2023
IFLR Africa Awards: National Law Firm of the year: Tanzania, 2020

See more of our accolades.

Key contacts

Michael Strain

Managing Partner | Tanzania

Wilbert Kapinga

Senior Partner | Tanzania

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

Zambia

The team at B&M Legal Practitioners, has been involved in precedent-setting domestic cases and pioneering cross-border transactions for nearly 20 years.

The firm provides a comprehensive legal service extending from banking and finance law to corporate advisory work and dispute resolution and litigation.

Established in May 2020, B&M Legal Practitioners is staffed with leading corporate and commercial lawyers and dispute resolution experts who have all graduated from top law and business schools in Zambia and abroad and have built on this solid academic foundation with years of practical experience.

Their expertise ranges from corporate, financial, tax and competition law (including mergers and acquisitions, capital market transactions, syndicated lending, corporate financing, project financing, export credit financing and debt restructuring) to litigation and alternative dispute resolution and employment law.

Clients include leading banks and financial institutions, securities firms, insurance companies, investment funds, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), mining houses, telecommunications and energy companies.

Awards

IFLR Africa Awards: National Law Firm of the Year: Zambia, 2021

See more of our accolades.

Key contacts

Mabvuto Sakala

Managing Partner | Zambia

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

Ethiopia

Our Alliance Firm in Ethiopia, Aman & Partners LLP, specialises in high-end corporate and transactional legal matters. It is reputed as a pioneer in the practise of corporate and transactional law in Ethiopia.

With almost two decades of experience, Aman & Partners LLP comprises legal professionals from a range of backgrounds including academia, the Judiciary, private practice, multinational in-house counsel and public policy advisory. The team consists of lawyers trained in Ethiopia, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom and Hungary.

Aman & Partners LLP is recognised as a specialist in the areas of investment and corporate transactions, taxation, international arbitration, energy, project financing, intellectual property, public enterprises, capital markets, labor relations, construction, anti-trust and unfair competition, banking, and bankruptcy.

Clients consist of both foreign and domestic investors and range from start-ups to prominent multi-nationals.

Key contacts

Aman Assefa

Managing Partner | Ethiopia

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

Nigeria

Our Alliance Firm in Nigeria is one of the leading corporate and commercial law firms in the country – Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie (UUBO).

UUBO is a full-service corporate and commercial law firm with offices in Nigeria’s key commercial centres of Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja.

Founded in 1983, UUBO is ranked in the top tiers in Chambers, Legal 500 and IFLR – especially in the fields of corporate, M&A, banking and finance and energy.

UUBO works for a diverse range of local and international clients to create and implement innovative and practical solutions that are designed to facilitate business in Nigeria and beyond.

The firm’s founding and core philosophy is that legal advice should be of the highest possible standard, accessible, commercially-oriented and consistently sound on principle. As a firm, UUBO has a reputation for enabling a wide range of transactions, for generating innovative and practical legal solutions, and for resolving disputes including those that are complex or unusual in Nigeria, within a relatively short space of time.

Its  areas of practice range from banking and finance, through corporate advisory, mergers, acquisitions and restructuring, business establishment and corporate immigration, company secretarial services, capital markets, private equity, tax, compliance and investigations, employment to intellectual property and dispute resolution. Sector expertise extends from aviation to infrastructure and projects, oil and gas, power, real estate, telecommunications, media and technology.

Key contacts

Aniekan Ukpanah

Managing Partner | Nigeria

Bowmans Offices

Alliance Firms

Special Relationships

Significant Transaction or Advisory Experience

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OUR AFRICAN
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Kenya

Mauritius

Namibia

South Africa

Tanzania

Zambia

Ethiopia

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OUR AFRICAN FOOTPRINT

Kenya

Mauritius

Namibia

South Africa

Tanzania

Zambia

Ethiopia

Nigeria

OUR AFRICAN
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