Leading Pan-African law firm, Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group was one of a limited number of firms that walked away with more than one award at the prestigious African Legal Awards hosted by Legal Week and the Corporate Lawyers Association of South Africa in Johannesburg on Friday last week (16 October 2015).

According to the organisers, the awards "set out to recognise exceptional achievement at a time when Africa's legal sector is going through a period of rapid change".

The firm received the awards for Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year and IP Team of the Year.

Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group chairman and senior partner, Robert Legh, says: “I’m delighted that our ability to deliver outstanding legal services to our clients has been recognised in this way. It’s testament to the success of our strategic decision to develop an integrated group of local legal teams serving clients in Africa.”

The Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group is a Pan-African law firm with some 400 lawyers operating from eight offices in six African countries. The group works closely with leading Nigerian firm, Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, which has offices in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, and has strong relationships with other leading law firms across the rest of Africa.

This on-the-ground presence has enabled it to develop a deep understanding of the varied legal, regulatory and business environments on the continent and to build strong relationships with regulators, government departments and other professionals in Africa. As a result, it is easily able to manage cross-border matters on behalf of its local and international clients.

Legh says, "It is extremely gratifying to be able to compete head-on with global elite law firms in Africa. It demonstrates the benefits of having competent legal counsel, with an in-depth understanding of the local environment, representing clients in-country."

The firm won the Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year award for its work for the South African Breweries (SAB) in a decade-long antitrust case against SAB and its appointed distributors. In this matter, the Competition Tribunal dismissed allegations of prohibited horizontal and vertical practices and an allegation of abuse of dominance against the brewer.

Legh, says “The Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group is involved in most of the key competition matters in South Africa and increasingly in other African countries.  We work extremely hard to remain at the forefront of developments across the continent and this award is an encouraging recognition of the success of our approach.”

The firm won the IP Team of the Year award for the work its Kenyan office, Coulson Harney, did in a precedent-setting matter and one of only a handful of Kenyan IP cases to find its way to the Court of Appeal.

Its full-service IP disputes team, which handles both disputes and protection of IP and litigates across East Africa for global multinationals, was able to convince the Kenyan Court of Appeal to redefine the interpretation of certain sections of the Trademarks Act that relate to extensions of time. This was in a majority 5-0 decision before the Court of Appeal on behalf of a global multinational corporation.

Managing partner in Kenya, Richard Harney, says: “We are delighted with the award although we believe that we earned a trophy for our client on that day. And ultimately, that’s what’s important – protecting our clients’ rights and helping them to be heard. With this ruling, our clients now have clarity on the question of extensions of time to enable them challenge infringing trademarks. This will ultimately provide confidence to investors in Kenya on the strength of IP laws in that disputes will be determined on merits and not technicalities.”

A major feature of the awards is the credibility of the judging process - the winners are decided by an independent panel consisting of senior members of the legal community. Judging criteria included: legal expertise and innovation, project management skills, teamwork and client satisfaction.

Legh concludes, “These awards serve as an outstanding external endorsement that we are doing something right in our quest to be the pre-eminent law firm advising on corporate and commercial and banking and finance law and assisting clients with dispute resolution in Africa.”