‘the african law firm of the future’ initial survey results€¦ · survey: the african law...
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‘The African Law Firm of the Future’initial survey results
1Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
71%
17%
3%3%3%3%
Which of the following most accurately describes you?
African lawyer in private practice in Africa
In-house legal counsel based in Africa
International lawyer in private practice
International in-house legal counsel, responsible for African operations
Regulator/Bar Association official or similar
Other (please specify)
(African Lawyer in Financial Institution)
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureThe survey had 35 respondents, 71% of which were external legal advisers
22%
13%
14%11%
5%
5%
5%
5%
3%3%3%3%3%
5%
In which country are you based/most professionally active?
Uganda
Algeria
Angola
Botswana
SenegalTunisia
Not in Africa (UAE, Portugal)
Nigeria
Kenya
South Africa
Tanzania
Ghana
Mozambique
Rwanda
2Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
Compared to 3 - 5 years ago, African law firms today are generally:
more optimistic
about Africa’s economic and socio-political
prospects
deliveringbetter quality
of legalservices to
clients
moreresponsive toclient needs
moreoptimistic
about theirown futures
morecompetitive
with non-African
internationallaw firms (ILFs)
moretechnologically
advanced
more corporate and “business-like”
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Strongly disagree Slightly disagree Neither agree nor disagree Slightly agree Strongly agree
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureCompared to 3 – 5 years ago, the vast majority of respondents are more optimistic / far more optimistic about the future
3Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
far
mor
e he
avily
inve
sted
inte
chno
logy
com
mon
ly u
sing
AI a
nd o
ther
adva
nced
dig
ital
too
ls
part
of o
ne o
f the
larg
e gl
obal
ILFs
part
of t
he ‘B
ig 4
’ glo
bal
advi
sory
firm
s
com
peti
tive
ly in
depe
nden
t,si
ngle
cou
ntry
firm
s
regi
onal
mul
ti-o
ffic
e A
fric
anfir
ms
/ co
-bra
nded
alli
ance
s
cons
ider
ably
mor
e pr
ofit
able
than
in 2
018
incr
easi
ngly
sim
ilar
toEu
rope
an /
US
law
firm
s
dist
inct
ly A
fric
an, n
otem
ulat
ing
Euro
pean
/ U
S la
wfir
ms
mul
ti-di
scip
linar
y pr
acti
ces,
whe
re la
wye
rs a
nd o
ther
prof
essi
onal
s co
llabo
rate
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
Strongly disagree Slightly disagree Neither agree nor disagree Slightly agree Strongly agree
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureFirms will likely be far more heavily invested in technology and multi-country African firms, perhaps MDPs*, are expected to be the market leadersIn 2025, the leading African law firms will likely be:
4* multi-disciplinary practicesCambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
• The legal space in Africa is increasingly competitive with the entry of global legal firms looking to share on the legal business arising from the growing African economies and in particular following their multinational companies investing in Africa who are also their clients back home. There is also increasing nationalism with local content regulations aimed at preserving some of the local legal work exclusively to local law firms.
• The legal market is still shallow compared to the European and US market having regard to the level of investments in these African countries. Unless intra African trade improves, international collaboration among African law firms would be a mirage.
• Optimistic about the future.
• I expect there to be increasing alliances and collaborations with other leading law firms both on the continent and beyond.
• The survey Questions should distinguish between countries in Africa. South Africa is far more developed than some of the others in terms of governance, ethics and technology compared to recent democracies. There is huge growth opportunities in SA and rest of Africa. Developed countries' law firms do not recognise material culture and different environments that we operate in.
• The real challenge in Africa is infrastructure and funding, not technology or ability. We can cite many cases of tech, fintech innovation in Africa but what is stopping significant progress are basics like connectivity, affordable access to internet, data, tech incubators, lack of VC funding etc...We have the skill and ingenuity, we need more investment in the "tools" and training required to even the playing fields.
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureComments on the likely characteristics of leading African law firm
5Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
Which practice areas have the greatest growth potential for African law firms over the next 3 – 5 years?
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureRespondents were optimistic about growth prospects for all practice areas
6
Arbitr
ation /
ADR
Aviatio
n
Banking a
nd finan
ce
Bankruptc
y and re
stru
cturin
g
Capital m
arkets
Comm
ercial
law
Corpora
te M
&A
Emplo
yment
Green b
onds, so
cial a
nd impact
investing
Inte
llectu
al pro
perty
Inte
rnatio
nal tra
de
Litigatio
n
Private
equity
Project f
inance
Public la
w
Real esta
te Tax
Telecom
s, m
edia and tech
nology
White
colla
r crim
e incl. c
orruptio
n
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Shrink significantly Shrink slightly Remain the same Grow slightly Grow significantly
Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
• Growing economies will see growth of the financial sector and real estate development as well as commercial deals and transactions. Growth of digital finance will mean growth of telecom companies and possible listing and contributing to the growth of capital markets. The growing economies will also see growth in capital funds. Arbitration and litigation as well as bankruptcies will be growing as a result of disruptive elements in the market due to the growing use of technology.
• We are seeing exponential growth in some of the areas highlighted.
• Its hard to predict on a continent as diverse as Africa which sectors will see increased growth or not. I do reasonably foresee an increase in M&A activity and infrastructure projects, particularly in non-government backed infrastructure projects. The model for infrastructure is changing with mega projects falling by the way side and smaller platform type plays taking place.
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureComments on which practice areas have the greatest growth potential in the next 3-5 years
7Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureRespondents are almost uniformly optimistic about growth prospects across all industry sectors, especially digital technology, infrastructure, renewable energy and telecoms
8
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Agriculture
Banking
Digital technologies (e.g. AI, blockchain,
Internet of Things, etc.)
Infrastructure development
Manufacturing
Mining and minerals
Oil & gas
Professional services, incl. financial and
business
Renewable energy
generation
Telecommunications
Tourism
Transport and logistics
Wholesale and retail
Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
• Natural resources nationalism coupled with laws unfriendly to long term risky investment will probably see a decline in mining, oil and gas extraction. The service sector and technology is poised to grow in the wake of growing digital finance and transportation will grow due to infrastructure development including railways and ports and the geographical location of Tanzania.
• We don't expect any of the above areas to shrink in any way.
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureRespondents are almost uniformly optimistic about growth prospects across all industry sectors
9Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
In-house counsel are far more positive about ILFs*, than African law firms
Enabling international
investors to do business in
Africa
De-risking African projects
Transferring skills to
African law firms
Creating and communicating new legal knowledge that
solves persistent challenges
Changing the narrative about
Africa, in international
markets
Helping countries develop better
legislation, as African economies diversify
and grow
Providing premium legal
services of a kind in short supply or
absent in most African law firms
Survey: The African Law Firm of the Future
In house counsel
External legal advisors
Do ILFs have an important role to play in Africa's development? Please rate each of the following in terms of the response that most closely mirrors your own.
10
* International law firms
Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
• The real drive of ILFs is the large cross-border infrastructure and related business. They do not usually go after the small local business and they are not geared towards contributing to the legal development in Africa for the African law firms or even governments. There is of course a small transfer of expertise to the few lawyers engaging with the ILFs on transactions.
• The legal capacity on the continent is often underrated and the contribution of ILFs exaggerated.
• Its a catch 22 for ILFs as I believe it is incumbent on them to share knowledge and up-skill African law firms, however the challenge is that they wouldn't want African law firms to become so efficient that clients can bypass ILFs. We already see this happening in more mature markets like SA where certain very competent SA firms have expanded their reach in Africa.
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureILFs may be worried that helping African law firms up-skill may create competitors
11
Note: The acronym ‘ILF’ is used to characterize a wide range of international law firms, from premium firms focusing entirely on large, complex cross-border work down to international brands competing directly with local firms for local work. Clearly, the competitive drivers are very different. Many African clients and even firms have difficulty differentiating between the extremes, seeing only ‘foreign’ firms and worrying that they will lose work to them.
Rather bizarrely, the local firms that voice the most strident opposition to their bar associations about the entry of ILFs to their markets, are small firms with mid- to lower tier practices with which the ILFs are the least in competition.
Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
In terms of ILFs seeking to enhance the practice of law in Africa, please rate the value that you believe each of the following activities delivers for African law firms and/or clients:
Conferencesin Africancentres
Conferencesin European
centres
Newsletters Seriouspublishedthought
leadership
Secondmentsto theiroffices
Sharing ofknowledge
withpreferred
relationshipfirms
Joint pitchingand businessdevelopment
Developingcultural
intelligencefor the
differentcountries in
Africa
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
No value / harmful Little value Good value Great value
Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureSecondments are viewed as the most valuable contribution that ILFs can make to African law firms, followed by knowledge sharing and joint pitching
12Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com
League tables identify the following ILFs as leaders in various practice areas Africa-wide. Respondents scored only those with which they are familiar on a scale of 1 (min) to 10 (max) according to the value that they add in supporting the African legal profession and law firms. The chart below represents the average score per firm.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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len
& O
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Link
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ase
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ton
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ert S
mith
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ehill
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n Lo
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r McK
enzie
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ruck
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nes D
ayVi
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irand
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ocia
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mon
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ons
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row
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oyre
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arte
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Survey: The African Law Firm of the FutureSecondments are viewed as the most valuable contribution that ILFs can make to African law firms, followed by knowledge sharing and joint pitching
13Cambridge Strategy Group Limited - 28 June 2018 - camstrategy.com