Bowmans

Managing partners: Alan Keep (Group), Paras Shah (Kenya), Fazil Hossenkhan (Mauritius), Stephen Vlieghe (Namibia) Michael Strain (Tanzania) and Mabvuto Sakala (Zambia)

Number of lawyers: 500+

Total staff complement: almost 1 000

Languages: English

Firm Overview:

Bowmans helps its clients manage legal complexity and unlock opportunity in Africa. Its enviable track record of providing legal services to the highest professional standards on the continent, spans corporate, finance, competition, taxation, employment, technology and dispute resolution matters.

With over 500 specialist lawyers, Bowmans draws on its unique knowledge of the business and socio-political environment in Africa to advise on a wide range of legal issues.

The firm delivers integrated legal services from nine offices (Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Johannesburg, Lusaka, Moka, Nairobi, Swakopmund and Windhoek) in six countries (Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia).

Everywhere it operates, Bowmans offers its clients a service that uniquely blends expertise in the law, knowledge of the local market, and an understanding of their businesses. The firm’s aim is to assist its clients to achieve their objectives as smoothly and efficiently as possible while minimising the legal and regulatory risks.

The firm works closely with its Alliance firms Aman & Partners LLP in Ethiopia and Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie in Nigeria. Bowmans has special relationships with firms in Mozambique and Uganda; a non-exclusive co-operation agreement with French international law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel that provides access to lawyers in francophone west and north Africa; regularly works with other leading independent law firms across the rest of Africa; and is a representative of Lex Mundi, a global association of independent law firms in more than 125 countries.

Clients include domestic and foreign corporates, multinationals, funds and financial institutions, across a range of industry sectors, as well as state-owned enterprises and governments.

Sector Specialisations:

• Aviation: Bowmans’ aviation specialists have a keen understanding of the industry based on a proven track record of involvement in major aviation-related matters.
• Construction: The firm assists clients throughout the project life cycle of complex infrastructure and construction projects including development, delivery, financing and disputes under all forms of construction contracts.
• Consumer Goods: Bowmans is uniquely positioned to advise consumer goods companies on all aspects of their businesses in Africa and has an exceptional track record of having advised some of the world’s leading companies in this sector.
• Education: The firm’s multi-disciplinary and cross-jurisdictional team is in a singular position to provide clients entering or operating in this field with a comprehensive spectrum of services covering transactional, regulatory, tax and employment law.
• Energy: Bowmans acts for a wide range of clients in the energy sector including developers, sponsors, public utilities, funds, commercial banks and other financial institutions, and governments.
• Financial Institutions: The firm has extensive experience advising clients in the banking, insurance, financial products and services sectors across the continent.
• Hotels & Leisure: Bowmans has specialist know-how and experience in the sector, having advised a number of international hotel groups as they commenced doing business, or have looked to expand their existing footprint, in Africa.
• Industrials: The firm’s offering spans the full range of corporate services and extends to all the specialist areas of law associated with activity of this nature including competition and antitrust, employment and tax.
• Infrastructure: Bowmans helps its clients at all stages of the economic lifecycle of infrastructure projects – from developing to acquiring to managing to restructuring to selling assets, including advising on financing aspects.
• Insurance: The firm advises leading insurers and reinsurers as well as companies in industry sectors where risk is inherent, on issues impacting them across the insurance value chain.
• Mining: The firm has a strong record of acting on the most significant mining-related mergers and acquisitions across the African continent. Bowmans advises on every aspect of mining-and resource-related transactions from the initial due diligence through regulatory compliance to negotiating and closing the deals.
• Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare: Bowmans’ pharmaceuticals and healthcare specialists have extensive experience in, and regularly advise stakeholders across, the healthcare services and products supply chain.
• Ports, Transport & Logistics: The firm delivers a comprehensive service facilitating relationships between land and sea users and owners of ports, terminals and equipment.
• Technology, Media & Telecommunications: Bowmans’ understanding of the regulatory landscape in many African jurisdictions enables it to assist clients get to market quickly while avoiding many of the pitfalls of operating in a new jurisdiction.