Chambers Global 2024 rankings confirm our market-leading status in Africa

Herbert Smith Freehills’ Africa practice continues to perform strongly in the 2024 edition of Chambers Global, with top tier rankings in the following Africa-wide categories:

• Band 1 for Africa-wide Projects & Energy for the 16th consecutive year
• Band 1 for Africa-wide Projects & Energy: Mining & Minerals for the 13th consecutive year
• Band 1 for Africa-wide Projects & Energy: Oil & Gas

The firm is also ranked in Band 2 for Africa-wide Dispute Resolution, Corporate/M&A & Private Equity, Power and TMT respectively, in Band 3 for Africa-wide Capital Markets and in the Spotlight table for Africa-wide Banking & Finance. We also have individual lawyers ranked for Africa-wide Corporate/Commercial: OHADA Specialists and for Africa-wide Project Finance.

5 partners across our Paris, Johannesburg and London offices are individually ranked for Africa-wide Projects & Energy.

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 performed well in the South Africa rankings, maintaining its Band 2 rankings for Competition/Anti-trust and Projects & Energy, Band 3 rankings for Energy & Natural Resources: Mining and Corporate/M&A, 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 25 individual Africa-related lawyer entries in total: 11 for Africa-wide, 11 for South Africa and 3 for Nigeria, Gabon and Sierra Leone (Expertise Based Abroad) respectively.

Client accolades for Africa-wide include: "HSF do a very good job and act well in protecting our interests. The team is always available and delivers work on time". "They are good at cutting through very complex issues and giving us very practical and concise advice". "The partner we work with has an excellent feel for both the legal and commercial aspects of negotiations. The team finds solutions that work and makes sure they are in everyone's best interest".

Client feedback for South Africa include: "Herbert Smith Freehills is a good, solid law firm that is always available to provide help." "The law firm does a very good job and acts well on our interest. The lawyers are always available and always deliver on time". "The matter Herbert Smith Freehills has been assisting us with is very technical and complex and the firm deals with it really well. Its team is a very knowledgeable and experienced team".

Martin Kavanagh, partner and Africa co-head at Herbert Smith Freehills, says: "We would like to offer our thanks to our clients for entrusting us with their landmark projects and transactions across multiple industry sectors throughout Africa. The energy transition is one of the areas that is presenting some exciting new opportunities for our Africa group, including in relation to hydrogen, battery energy storage, corporate green power purchase agreements and critical minerals supply contracts for the automotive industry to meet the demand for EV batteries. We are extremely proud of our group and the success we have achieved in Africa and want to thank all our people across the firm who continuously give their best in delivering for our business and our clients on the continent".

Jean Meijer, managing partner of Herbert Smith Freehills' Johannesburg office says: "We are thrilled to see that the Johannesburg office and many of our lawyers have once again been recognised across a broad range of practice areas in South Africa.  These rankings are the outcome of our collective commitment to excellence and providing our clients with the highest quality legal services. We are extremely proud of our team and the success that we have achieved".

For more information please contact Rebecca Donovan or Aimee Burhmann.