Friends come together and join hands to conquer Francophone Africa practice

Friends come together and join hands to conquer Francophone Africa practice

Four law firm of Algeria, Morocco, Guinea and Ivory Coast come together to create a new law firm ADNA to focus on North and West Africa

Four long-time friends with roots in North and West Africa have joined forces to create a new law firm to focus on Francophone Africa practice.

The new entity known as ADNA will have offices in Algeria, Morocco, Guinea and Ivory Coast.

Until recently, Salimatou Diallo, Foued Bourabiat, Safia Fassi-Fihri and Sydney Domoraud had been running independent law firms in their respective countries. They all had spent a significant part of their career working with international law firms, mostly out of Paris. After ironing out all aspects over the past couple of years, Bourabiat Associés, BFR & Associés, SD Avocats and EMIRE Partners merged recently to give birth to ADNA.

ADNA has become a member of the pan-African law firm alliance – African Legal Network. Its key practise areas will be corporate, banking and finance, projects and disputes with a particular focus on the agriculture, energy, infrastructure and mining sectors.

"We have all worked in international firms and understand the importance of having a regional platform for clients who will be attracted by our credentials and experience across a range of practice areas," Conakry-based Salimatou Diallo, who is managing partner of ADNA, said.

According to Diallo, it took them two years to work out all details of the deal that includes profit-sharing between the partners. Diallo further said that they already have a plan in place to expand into other Francophone countries with discussions underway with two other firms. She, however, did not provide further details.

Diallo founded SD Avocats in 2013 after spending seven years at Herbert Smith Freehills' (HSF) Paris office. She has dual French/Guinean citizenship and her practice focuses on the energy and natural resources sectors in Francophone Africa.

Foued Bourabiat was at HSF in Paris at the same time as Diallo. He founded Bourabiat Associés in Algeria in 2012. He advises investors and credit institutions on their investments and financing operations in Algeria and in the MENA region.

Safia Fassi-Fihri worked at Bredin Pratt, Ashurst and Gide Loyrette Nouel's Casablanca office before moving in-house as general counsel of Moroccan wealth management firm RMA Capital. She founded BFR & Associés in 2015.

ADNA's quartet of founding partners is completed by Sydney Domoraud, managing partner of Abidjan-based EMIRE. He focuses on the energy, mining, infrastructure and real estate sectors. Before setting up EMIRE in 2017, he spent four years at Orrick, including on secondment to its London office, and then founded Orrick's associated Abidjan firm Orrick RCI in 2014.

Besides filling the void due to the lack of many pan-African law firms, ADNA has plans of promoting the generation next lawyers in Africa with an international outlook. Most independent law firms in Africa offer cross-border advice through membership of a network. International law firms serve the continent through their Africa desk of London and Paris offices.