BOWMANS’ EXPERTISE RECOGNISED AT THE 2017 AFRICAN LEGAL AWARDS

Johannesburg, 11 September 2017: Leading pan-African law firm Bowmans narrowly missed the title of African Law Firm of the Year – Large Practice at the 2017 African Legal Awards held in Johannesburg last week. The firm was the only firm to be ‘highly commended’ in this category. It also received two other accolades. 

Bowmans’ chairman and senior partner, Robert Legh, says: “These awards are hotly contested and the standard of entries is high. We believe that we stood out because of the depth of our teams’ sector knowledge, gained on the ground in the African jurisdictions that are critical to our clients’ growth strategies”.

The event was hosted by Legal Week and the Corporate Lawyers Association of South Africa. The firm won the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Team of the Year Award for advising Wireless Business Solutions Pty Ltd (now known as Rain) on its multi-billion Rand investment in a new national high-speed LTE-A network. This included concluding roaming and facilities leasing agreements. Bowmans was also the only firm that was ‘highly commended’ in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team of the Year category. This was for representing the South African Human Rights Commission, on a pro bono basis, against Mr Jon Qwelane in the Equality Court. The was in response to an article that he published which found to be hate speech in terms of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act read together with the Constitution.

Legh concludes, “These awards are a vote of confidence in our ability to advise on complex legal matters in the best interests of clients. They also affirm that of our ‘one firm’ approach to doing business in Africa is paying off.”