Australian clients looking to Africa for energy & resources opportunities are set to benefit from a greater number of firms opening or recruiting for offices in the region. Baker & McKenzie announced last week that it had launched a new office in South Africa, following its recruitment of the partners, lawyers and staff from Dewey & LeBoeuf South Africa. It is the latest in a number of firms to look to Africa for opportunities in recent years including Norton Rose, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance.

“Africa will be an increasingly significant market for capital flows going forward,” said Australian Baker & McKenzie managing partner Chris Freeland. “There are more conversations about Africa as time goes on; I think it will be one of the growth markets… and clients are looking for markets that are growing.”

Freeland was one of 40 Baker & McKenzie committee members who voted in favour of the new office. “For us in Australia there are three benefits: Firstly, for our clients, a number of whom have interest in South Africa, but also a number of whom are using South Africa as a launching pad to take advantage of the opportunities in Africa more broadly – particularly in the resources and mining space.”

Secondly, he added it would be of benefit to staff at the firm and, lastly, he said it would benefit the firm’s overall ability to service clients, by having offices in 12 of the 15 significant resources jurisdictions in the world. “It’s valuable to be able link together lawyers working in that space around the world,” he added.

While the firm is focused on South Africa for now Freeland said it was inevitable that they would look at opportunities elsewhere in Africa in the near future. Energy & resources partner John Mollard told ALB that the firm was seeing  a lot of investment in many states within Africa, “including Mozambique, DRC, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali and Burkina Faso”.

South Africa is Baker & McKenzie's third office opening in the past 12 months, following the launch of offices in Istanbul, Turkey, and Doha, Qatar.