Last year, the Top 50 entered new territory when it presented data on the gender composition of the partnerships at Africa’s largest law firms. The results revealed how African firms were performing above the lamentable 26.5% female partnerships across the UK and US top 350 firms, with an average of 30%.
Our analysis of gender trends in partnership has continued into 2023, and it’s pleasing to see the average female composition of the Africa Top 50 partnerships moved to 38.5%, with some firms achieving a 5% improvement on their 2021 data (analysed as part of the Africa Top 50 2022) and their 2022 data which was reviewed for this year’s report.
Four new firms have joined the “50% Club” by achieving 50% female representation in their partnerships. They are:
A new component to the 2023 report is the collation of data in relation to trainee intake and retention from across 2020 to 2022 from our Top 50 firms. This data paints a picture of the highs and lows of the last four years' broader economic backdrop. On the whole, it paints a positive picture with the total trainee intake across responding firms increasing from 479 in 2020 to 554 in 2022. Six of the reporting firms* were able to more than double their intake of trainees from 2020 compared to 2022.
On the pure headcount side of the report, the Top 10 of the Africa Top 50 2023 are;
10. Olaniwun Ajayi – 142 lawyers
9. Werksmans Attorneys – 162 lawyers
8. Norton Rose Fulbright – 171 lawyers
7. Dentons – 255 lawyers
6. Webber Wentzel – 326 lawyers
5. Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr – 340 lawyers
4. ALN – 350 lawyers
3. Bowmans – 420 lawyers
2. DLA Piper – 439 lawyers
1. ENSafrica – 469 lawyers
The total headcount across the Top 10 firms was 3 079 compared with the 2 171 lawyers employed across the remaining Top 50 firms.
The biggest movement within the Top 10 came from Olaniwun & Ajayi as they replaced South African firm Adams & Adams in tenth spot. Pan-African law firm ALN moved up two places from sixth to fourth, mostly due to their integration of leading Nigerian law firm Aluko Oyebode in 2022.
More analysis and the release of the full Africa Top 50 will follow in the coming weeks.
*Only 27 firms within the Africa Top 50 2023 supplied full trainee Intake data.
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