Bowmans (law firm)

Bowmans

No. of offices	9
No. of attorneys	500
No. of employees	1200
Major practice areas	Corporate Law Firm
Key people	Ezra Davids (Chairman and Senior Partner)
Date founded	1885
Founder	Douglas Flemmer Gilfillan, Richard Bowman
Website	www.bowmanslaw.com

Bowmans is the brand identity of a pan-African legal practice comprising the following law firms Coulson Harney LLP (Kenya), Koep & Partners (Namibia), Bowmans Mauritius (Mauritius), Bowman Gilfillan (South Africa), Bowmans Tanzania (Tanzania) and B&M Legal Practitioners (Zambia).

It has over 500 lawyers located in nine offices (Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Lusaka, Moka, Nairobi, Swakopmund and Windhoek) in six African countries (Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia).

Bowmans has signed alliance agreements with Aman & Partners LLP in Ethiopia and Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie in Nigeria and has a non-exclusive co-operation agreement with French international law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel.

It is a representative of Lex Mundi, a global association of independent law firms in more than 125 countries.

It is one of the "Big Five law firms" in South Africa.

History

Bowman Gilfillan was formed through the merger in 1998 of three law firms – Bowman Gilfillan Hayman Godfrey (established 1902), Findlay & Tait (established 1885) and John & Kernick (established 1923).

Major deals

In 2009, the firm advised Bharti Airtel, India's largest cellular services provider in their proposed acquisition of the MTN Group, the largest announced but uncompleted merger in South Africa's history with a value of $23 billion.

External links

• Official website