Herbert Smith Freehills' Africa practice continues to perform strongly in the 2023 edition of Chambers Global, with top tier rankings in the following Africa-wide categories:
- Band 1 for Africa-wide Projects & Energy for the 15th consecutive year
- Band 1 for Africa-wide Projects & Energy: Mining & Minerals for the 12th consecutive year
- Band 1 for Africa-wide Projects & Energy: Oil & Gas (upgraded from Band 2)
We are also ranked in Band 2 for Africa-wide Dispute Resolution, Corporate/M&A & Private Equity, Power and TMT respectively and in Band 3 for Africa-wide Capital Markets, and we have an individual lawyer ranked for Africa-wide Corporate/Commercial: OHADA Specialists.
5 partners across our Paris, Johannesburg and London offices are individually ranked for Africa-wide Projects & Energy, more than any other ranked firms.
The firm, or individual lawyers at the firm, are also singled out in the spotlight tables (Expertise Based Abroad) for Algeria, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gabon and Guinea.
Our Johannesburg office also performed well in the South Africa rankings, moving up in to Band 2 for Competition/Anti-trust and Band 3 for Corporate/M&A, and maintaining its Band 2 ranking for Projects & Energy, Band 3 ranking for Energy & Natural Resources: Mining and Band 4 ranking for Dispute Resolution. Our Johannesburg office is also ranked in the spotlight table for International & Cross-Border Capabilities and has an individual lawyer ranked for Corporate Investigations.
We have 24 individual Africa-related lawyer entries in total: 10 for Africa-wide, 11 for South Africa and 3 country specific (Nigeria, Gabon and Sierra Leone).
Client accolades for Africa-wide include: "The team are very strong, not only in the availability of all team members but also in their proactive approach to giving advice and managing transactions"; "The team clearly keep their client's commercial objectives to the forefront of their thinking; they are not wedded to market precedent"; "Herbert Smith [Freehills] has a clear understanding of client needs and dynamics."
Client feedback for South Africa include: "Herbert Smith Freehills provides fantastic work and transparency"; "The service levels and responsiveness are always impeccable"; "We were impressed with the Herbert Smith Freehills teams' ability to manage the complexity of the guidance and provide high-quality results across all topics."
Martin Kavanagh, partner and Africa co-Head at Herbert Smith Freehills commented: "We are delighted to have achieved another strong performance this year in the Chambers rankings for our work in Africa, particularly in the energy, mining and projects sectors. We are pleased with the recognition that the practice continues to receive by way of both these rankings and recent awards, including Africa-Wide International Law Firm of the Year: Projects & Energy at the Chambers Africa Awards in 2023, and want to thank all our people across the firm who continuously give their best in delivering for our business and our clients in Africa. We are extremely proud of our group and the success we have achieved in Africa and are looking forward to some exciting projects and deals in Africa in 2023".
Nina Bowyer, partner and Africa co-Head at Herbert Smith Freehills added: "We have received some impressive client feedback and would like to thank our clients who continue to entrust us with their most important and strategic matters in Africa. We would also like to congratulate our lawyers in Johannesburg and across the firm who continue to be singled out individually, with several new or improved individual rankings this year".
