Best Lawyers in South Africa has listed Baker McKenzie partners Darryl Bernstein (Litigation), Janet MacKenzie (Media Law), Johan Botes (Employee Benefits Law, Labour and Employment Law), Lodewyk Meyer (Finance and Banking Law), Kieran Whyte (Project Finance and Development Practice), Marc Yudaken (Corporate Law) and Mike van Rensburg (Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law) in its Best Lawyers in South Africa 2022 edition.  Best Lawyers is a respected legal peer review publication of the country’s best lawyers. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Earlier in October, Johan Botes, Partner and Head of Employment & Compensation in the Johannesburg office was also chosen as a winner of the Lexology Client Choice Awards 2021.  Only corporate counsel can nominate lawyers for these awards, with more than 2500 nominations having been received this year. Johan was announced as winner because of the excellent reviews of his clients.

Also in October, three partners in Baker McKenzie’s Johannesburg office were listed as Leading Lawyers in South Africa in the IFLR1000 Guide - Kieran Whyte (Energy and Infrastructure, Project Development and Project Finance), Lodewyk Meyer (Banking) and Mike van Rensburg ( M&A). The IFLR1000 Guide is the only international legal directory focused on ranking law firms and lawyers on the basis of financial and corporate transactional work.

At the African Legal Awards in September,  the firm won the Employment Law Team of the Year, the Rising Star Award (Ashlin Perumall) and the Children’s Advocate Award (supported by Save the Children), as well as being highly commended in the categories of Most Promising Newcomer (Sphesihle Nxumalo) and Partner of the Year – Private Practice (Lerisha Naidu).  The Employment team received the Team of the Year award for their work advising a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company on the Africa elements its multijurisdictional reorganisation. The firm also received the Children's Advocate Award for its work with partner organisations, including the Center for International Human Rights at Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, to create the Youth Rights Resource Compass, a website that directs young people, as well as those who advocate for them, to the entities, organisations, governments and other agencies that are open and available to them.

These awards highlight the firm's on-the-ground expertise, seamless global teamwork and solutions-driven approach to addressing current challenges in Africa.