Mehrteab Leul & Associates (MLA), the Ethiopian law office member of DLA Piper Africa, hosted an event in Addis Ababa in early February on behalf of the executive members of DLA Piper Africa.  At the event, David Church, International Development Partner at DLA Piper, Chris Ewing, Chairman of DLA Piper Africa and Mehrteab Leul, Principal of Mehrteab Leul & Associates, spoke about the importance of the DLA Piper Africa alliance and what it meant for its fifteen members in Africa and both its international and locally based clients.

Mehrteab Leul, Principal of Mehrteab Leul & Associates, said at the event that the law office's African alliance was important to both MLA and its clients, "Our clients benefit from the cross border alliance with DLA Piper as most of them no longer limit their transactions to single countries, but have cross border matters that require specialist expertise in each country involved in the transaction. This alliance has proved invaluable in that respect."

"Also important to our law office is the opportunity for international secondments, which has allowed team members to learn and acquire expertise in other jurisdictions," Leul noted.

David Church, International Development partner at DLA Piper, said, "Our lawyers across the world have been working extensively with DLA Piper Africa members for a number of years. Many of the world's fastest growing economies are in Africa and the alliance was developed in order to meet the demand for seamless legal services across Africa. International secondments into and out of Africa enhance the integration of our African offering and boost our practices in Africa and globally."

Chris Ewing, Chairman of DLA Piper Africa, noted that when it came to cross border transactions, “A big difficulty that offshore based multinationals face when doing finance deals in Africa is that they have not built relationships with law firms in the African countries involved in a cross border deal. That is why we have spent a lot of time building these relationships to help us to help the multinationals across Africa. A good relationship with each member of the team is essential for the smooth and successful completion of a financial transaction, especially when it comes to complex cross border negotiations."

“The fact that there are different laws in each country and different regulatory requirements that could slow down the implementation of cross border financial transactions has meant that close partnerships with firms in each country are imperative," he said.

Ewing agreed that international secondments within the African alliance were extremely beneficial to all DLA Piper Africa members.

"The legal knowledge gained by lawyers who are given the opportunity to work in jurisdictions other than their own cannot be underestimated in today's global business environment. Secondments benefit the lawyers, the DLA Piper Africa alliance and, most importantly, the clients who rely on this expertise," he added.

Written by Chris Ewing, Chairman, DLA Piper Africa: Corporate and Commercial