Ten practice areas and 35 directors from leading South African business law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) have been ranked and recommended in the latest Legal 500 Europe, Middle East & Africa results.

The Legal 500 assesses the strengths of law firms in over 100 jurisdictions and highlights the practice area teams who are providing the most cutting edge and innovative advice to corporate counsel. The Legal 500 is an independent guide, and firms and individuals are recommended purely on merit, with research based on feedback from 250 000 clients worldwide.

“These achievements are especially noteworthy as they come at a time when clients are expecting more from their legal services providers. Lawyers are expected to help clients navigate their business's legal, commercial and regulatory challenges through services based on competent advice that is both pragmatic and effective. We'd like to believe that we do this every day for our clients' most pressing challenges through solution driven approaches to their needs. Our growing talent pool and accessible structure are all aimed at ensuring we can provide these solutions and are seen as not only advisors, but as our clients' business partners,” says CDH CEO Brent Williams.

CDH was recommended as a Top Tier Firm in two practice areas - corporate M&A and real estate. The firm has also been recommended in eight practice areas - dispute resolution, banking and finance, competition, labour and employment, mining, construction, projects and infrastructure and tax. Two CDH directors have been included in Legal 500's esteemed “leading lawyers” list – Tim Fletcher, National Practice Head: CDH Dispute Resolution and Willem Jacobs, National Practice Head: CDH Corporate and Commercial.  We are very proud of them as they serve at the helm of our two largest practice areas!

In all, 35 of the firm’s directors received individual recommendations in the survey.

“We continue to invest, build and expand across key disciplines, being Corporate M & A, Private Equity, Finance and Banking, Tax, Energy and Projects and Infrastructure, and Telecommunications and Media. Our aim is to continue providing cutting edge advice domestically and across the African continent that can move the needle for domestic and foreign companies operating in volatile and challenging local and global market conditions. A number of strategic lateral hires will yield growth in these key disciplines in the period ahead,” concludes Williams.