With a record 560 entries from 22 countries, ever growing awards categories and increasingly diverse winners showed that Africa is leading the way in global growth. The awards were hosted, once again, by Law.com in partnership with Africa Legal.
Big winners on the evening included Aluko & Oyebode (part of ALN) who took home Private Equity Team of the Year and Banking and Finance Team of the Year trophies, solidifying their place as one of the leading transactional law firms in Africa.
West African Law Firm of the Year (Large Practice) and African Law Firm of the Year were won by Olaniwun Ajayi who also made it to number ten of the Africa Top 50, demonstrating truly impressive growth with a 19% increase in headcount over the last 12 months.
Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team of the Year went to Kenya-based TripleOKLaw Advocates for the second year in a row. Also building on the success of last year was Webber Wentzel, who took home an impressive 5 awards; ESG Initiative of the Year for the third time in a row, along with Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year, Employment Team or the year, Transportation and Infrastructure team of the year as well as Most Promising Newcomer for Tobia Serongoane.
GC of the Year went to the hugely impressive Hermien Uys of Vedanta Zinc International, whose passion for driving the ESG agenda within the mining sector continues to set her apart as one of the globe’s leading in-house lawyers.
“Over the last five years we have worked with Law.com to bring greater geographical diversity to the awards and to celebrate success in all sizes and types of firms,” commented Africa Legal’s CEO Scott Cowan. “Seeing how far the community has come and how much is being driven from North, West and East Africa as well as Southern Africa is just brilliant. It is always a pleasure to be there in person and see so many of our community in one place.”
The evening also saw the launch of the African Top 50 Top 10. You can read more about it here. There was also a focus on charitable work in East Africa, as Spotlight on Africa was the chosen charity partner for the African Legal Awards 2023. You can find out more about their projects here.
Well done to all of the shortlisted firms and congratulations to the winners. The full list of African Legal Awards 2023 winners can be found here.
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