Nigerian firm connects African legal alliance

Nigerian firm connects African legal alliance

A new deal expands ALN's geographic reach to 16 jurisdictions and puts it third in West Africa

As part of its cross-border and pan-African expansion, Nigeria's Aluko & Oyebode has joined African law firm alliance ALN.

Through this alliance, ALN expands its geographical reach across the continent to 16 countries and provides legal expertise in Africa's largest economy to existing partner firms and their clients. It also allows member firms to access the wide range of expertise and resources of Aluko & Oyebode, which has vast regional and international experience.

Aluko & Oyebode chairman Kofo Dosekun noted: "The African continent is an undeniably dynamic market that offers many development opportunities for businesses from around the world."

"Through this partnership, we are able to offer domestic and international clients tailor-made legal services that meet the highest international standards in order to safeguard and support their operations whenever they operate."

Founded in 1983, Aluko & Oyebode provides corporate and commercial law services ranging from banking and capital markets to litigation, dispute resolution and tax. The firm employs more than 80 lawyers in three offices located in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja.

As chairman of ALN, Cheick Modibo Diarra stated: "With the addition of Aluko & Oyebode's expertise and extensive experience into our fold, our clients can trust that we are an alliance that spans Africa and connects it to the rest of the world, enabling them to thrive in this developing market and achieve their commercial objectives with ALN's unique combination of local and international expertise, intellectual rigor and agility in their corner."

Law firm alliances in Africa are generally more loosely grouped than ALN. ALN's model combines common branding with a central management team to ensure a consistent experience for clients across jurisdictions through seamless, consistent service across member firms. As part of this network of firms, A&K Tanzania, Anjarwalla & Khanna in Kenya, ADNA in Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Morocco are also members.

Aluko & Oyebode's general partner, Reginald Udom stated: "As an alliance of integrated law firms in Africa, our people and their knowledge are key assets in helping us differentiate ourselves from our competitors and add value to our services."

South Africa's Bowmans is another company that has expanded its reach across the continent recently, having signed a cooperation agreement with the French giant Gide Loyrette Nouel in October last year. In this agreement, the two companies, which have a history of collaboration and respective offerings in English-speaking and Francophone Africa, agreed to work closely together in order to strengthen client relationships and share experience in this market.

A number of leading international law firms are also exploring the African market, including Dentons, which announced last month a tie-up with Tunisian law firm Zaanouni Law Firm as part of its endeavor to become a leading pan-African law firm.

The move earned the global giant its 17th location on the continent and was a follow-up to last year's mergers with Fernanda Lopes & Associados-Advogados in Mozambique and Adepetun Caxton-Martins Agbor & Segun in Nigeria, which made it only the second international law firm to secure a presence in the Nigerian market after DLA Piper.

Furthermore, Allen & Overy redoubled its efforts to strengthen its presence in South Africa in April, bringing on board corporate and commercial partners Brian Price and Ze'ev Blieden, respectively, from top local outfit Werksmans. It was noted at the time that the move was part of the firm's efforts to expand its specialist offering in the country, adding six partners from Linklaters ally Webber Wentzel in Johannesburg last September to strengthen its banking and finance group.