Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc is one of the largest law firm

Law firm

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...

s in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, with more than 130 partners and 270 attorneys. The firm has a significant national footprint with offices in Sandton, Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

 and Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

; it is also affiliated with DLA Piper

DLA Piper

DLA Piper is a global law firm with 76 offices across 30 countries and more than 4,200 lawyers. As of May 2011, it was the largest law firm in the world by number of attorneys. The firm's global revenues were $1.92 billion in 2009-2010. The firm is composed of two partnerships, DLA Piper...

.

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr was established in September 2008 as a result of the merger between Cliffe Dekker (formerly Cliffe Dekker Fuller Moore) and Hofmeyr, Herbstein & Gihwala.

History

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr's roots date back to 1853. The firm has evolved and grown through a series of mergers, culminating in the milestone merger on 1 September 2008 of two of South Africa's largest and leading, national corporate law firms, Cliffe Dekker and Hofmeyr Herbstein & Gihwala.

Practice areas

The merger created enhanced depth of skills and capabilities across the full complement of business legal services, which are structured around ten core practice groups: Corporate and Commercial (including Intellectual Property); Competition/Antitrust; Dispute Resolution: Litigation and Arbitration; Employment/Labour; Environmental; Finance, Projects and Banking; Real Estate; Tax; Technology, Media and Telecommunications; and Trusts and Estates.

The firm's lawyers specialise in their particular fields and provide niche services in key sectors including: aviation; Black Economic Empowerment; employee benefits; energy, healthcare and pharmaceuticals; infrastructure; insolvency and restructuring; insurance; Islamic finance; mergers and acquisitions; mining; occupational health and safety; outsourcing; pensions; projects and PPPs; public sector law; and private equity.

Professional recognition

The firm was the legal adviser to the 2008 'Deal of the Year' and 'outstanding deal of the year' (DealMakers magazine, Ernst and Young Review, and Mergermarket M&A activity roundups for 2008) – the R180bn Remgro and Richemont restructuring that resulted in the creation of Reinet Investment Holdings and the listings of British American Tobacco and Reinet on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr made the biggest gains in M&A advisory work among SA's top five law firms in both deal flow and deal value rankings.

Other recent accolades include being ranked by clients as the 'No. 1 large law firm in South Africa, 2009' in a national survey of the leading legal firms in South Africa (PMR.Africa); named 'Best Corporate M&A Practice – Africa, 2008' (The New Economy Legal Awards); 'Legal Adviser of the Year 2008' and 'Client Focused Law Firm of the Year' (ACQ Finance Country Awards). Mondo Ntlha, Head of the Competition practice was named 'Best Competition Lawyer 2009' (World Finance Legal Awards).

The firm and a number of its lawyers are regularly ranked in the top tiers in the world's most authoritative professional and business directories.

Black Economic Empowerment

As a leader in promoting empowerment and diversity in the legal profession in SA, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr has achieved an accredited Level Three BEE contributor rating.