Hogan Lovells develops its presence in Africa

Hogan Lovells develops its presence in Africa

The UK firm hires Olivier Fille-Lambie and Arun Velusami as co-leaders of its global practice

One of the top three UK law firms, Hogan Lovells, has highlighted its commitment to developing its presence in Africa with a leadership shakeup. It sees partners Olivier Fille-Lambie and Arun Velusami take over as co-leaders of its global Africa practice.

Fille-Lambie and Velusami, based in Paris and London, respectively, belong to the firm's infrastructure, energy, resources and projects practices and its internal Africa leadership team.

They have taken over from Andrew Skipper, who will become the practice's chair, after being in the role for over seven years. He will support the management transition and continue to promote and engage with the practice's work.

The move comes a few weeks after Hogan Lovells made its first partner-level lateral hire in Johannesburg, its only office in the region. This was after the high-profile split with local ally Routledge Modise and subsequent office re-launch in 2019. It had then grabbed Pinsent Masons' South African transactional services practice head Chris Green.

Fille-Lambie spoke about his association with Velusami and the firm. He said, "Together we have built a market-leading Africa practice combining our global team and network of hub offices around the world with close relationships with local law firms to advise major inbound, outbound and pan-African clients across English, French and Portuguese-speaking Africa on their strategic goals."

Velusami remarked, "With more than 40 years of experience on the continent we are committed to understanding and operating and investing in Africa."

He hoped that given the "relationship-driven" nature of the firm's business in Africa, the practice would "leverage and grow existing" relationships as well as build new ones. "We have a key role to play in advancing economic recovery on the continent and to continue Africa's development as a major centre for international business," he added.

Fille-Lambie has been with Hogan Lovells for over two decades and focuses his practice on acquisition, projects and structured finance. He also works for the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law (OHADA) in Africa.

(OHADA is a system of corporate law and implementing institutions currently applicable in 17 African countries).

Velusami had joined Hogan Lovells in 2017 after 15 years at Norton Rose Fulbright. He specializes in advising developers, lenders and governments across Africa on major infrastructure projects. His expertise lies in the power sector, having advised on thermal, solar, wind, biomass and hydropower projects for two decades.

Hogan Lovells' wider Africa regional practice is home to 150 lawyers working in Beijing, Dubai, London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Washington DC.