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Business law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr has announced that Gasant Orrie, a director in the firm's Corporate and Commercial practice group, has been appointed as managing partner in the Cape region.
This appointment heralds a further streamlining of the firm's executive leadership roles announced in April 2011 following the appointments of Chris Ewing as chairman and Brent Williams as CEO of the national firm, which has offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town. According to Williams, Orrie's appointment marks another milestone in Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr's growth strategy and underscores further progress towards achieving the firm's transformation aspirations.
Williams was the first black chief executive officer to be appointed in the top large law firms in South Africa. Orrie is the first black managing partner appointed in one of the largest Cape law firms. Both lawyers have well established reputations as leading corporate and commercial lawyers in South Africa through rankings in international professional publications such as the Legal 500 and Best Lawyers International. Both Williams and Orrie have played integral roles in the firm's strategic growth.
The Cape managing partner role was previously jointly shared between Orrie and Jo Neser following the merger of Cliffe Dekker and Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala in September 2008 to form Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr. Neser, who is also a director of the firm and recognised as a leading corporate lawyer, remain an active member of the firm's national executive committee.
"I feel privileged to be given this opportunity to manage the Cape offices and guide the region's strategic growth," said Orrie. "Jo has supported me enormously over the past few years and he has made a significant contribution to consolidating Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr's excellent reputation in the Western Cape. The firm's corporate practice recently notched up the highest number of M&A transactions for the second year running in the annual DealMakers M&A award rankings, he adds.
Orrie says the firm's Cape Town roots go back more than 150 years and it is today one of the largest commercial law firms in the region with more than 60 qualified lawyers at its offices in the CBD and Claremont.
"Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is also one of the largest, national business law firms in South Africa. We are, in addition, part of the global law firm DLA Piper, which is now the world's biggest law firm. It has over 4,200 lawyers across 76 offices and in 30 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and the United States as well as additional DLA Piper Group firms across Africa. DLA Piper has just been ranked number one among the world's leading global law firms," Orrie added.
Williams said that reorganisation within the firm is in line with DLA Piper's global 'best practice' model and signifies "further steps in aligning our firm with the DLA Piper structure as we simultaneously adapt to our clients business needs to deliver a global service."
"Our firm is also unique in South Africa from a management perspective in that it has for a long time been managed by a diverse team, from the perspective of race, gender and seniority. We are a firm that celebrates its diversity and are proud of our progress towards our transformation aspirations. Our Level Two Contributor BEE rating clearly demonstrates this. We also have more women partners and more black partners than any other law firm in the country," said Williams.
· Gasant Orrie was admitted as an attorney in 1991. He practised in law firms in Cape Town and Johannesburg before being appointed Chief Legal Advisor at South African Airways in 1995, where he served as a member of the SAA's Executive Committee, Aviation Safety Review Board and Transformation Committee. He joined Hofmeyr Herbstein & Gihwala (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr) in 1997 as a director and became joint managing partner of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr in 2008.
· Gasant specialises in corporate and commercial law with a focus on mergers and acquisitions in the hotel and leisure, tourism and hospitality, and real estate sectors. He has a special interest in the aviation and airline industry, and public private partnerships.
· Gasant is recognised as one of South Africa's leading lawyers listed in Best Lawyers International and the Legal 500.
· Jo Neser began his legal career with Syfret Godlonton–Fuller Moore in Cape Town in 1980 as a candidate attorney. He was promoted to associate and ultimately became a director of the firm, which merged with the then Johannesburg law firm, Cliffe Dekker in 1998 to become Cliffe Dekker Fuller Moore and, in 2002, was renamed as Cliffe Dekker. Jo was appointed Cliffe Dekker's managing partner in 2001, and became National Deputy Chairman from 2003 – 2005. In 2008, he was appointed joint managing partner of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.
· Jo is one of the Cape Town regions' leading merger and acquisition specialists and has assisted a number of multinational and local companies in establishing a presence in South Africa. He specialises in merger and acquisition transactions and joint venture, as well as inward bound investments, and in franchising. He is especially active in the food, liquor and publishing industries and the sports sector in the Western Cape.
· Jo's accolades include being recognised as a leading corporate M&A lawyer in Who's Who Legal, the International Who's Who of M&A and Business Lawyers, Best Lawyers International, the IFLR1000 and the Legal 500, in which he is described as a lawyer with "a depth of knowledge, extensive experience and solutions focused"
Andrea Collocott, Head: Marketing, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr,
Tel: +27 (0)11 562 1281 or email: andrea.collocott@dlacdh.com
About Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr
· Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is one of the largest business law firms in South Africa with some 115 directors/partners and some 250 qualified lawyers located at offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
· Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr lawyers specialise in services covering the complete spectrum of business legal needs in 11 core areas of practice. The firm also has dedicated sector-led teams consisting of lawyers with experience in a wide range of industries and the public sector.
· Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is the South African member firm of DLA Piper Group, an alliance of legal practices, which includes firms with offices around the globe that are affiliated to members of the DLA Piper Practice but are not themselves members of it.
· DLA Piper’s Africa practice in conjunction with Group firms in South Africa (Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr), Egypt, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana, as well as relationship firms and Africa specialists in many other countries across Africa, is unrivalled in terms of geographical coverage.
· DLA Piper is a global law firm with 4,200 lawyers located in 30 countries and 70 offices throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and the US.
· DLA Piper is positioned to help companies with their legal needs anywhere in the world.
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