Nigeria’s Aluko & Oyebode has joined African law firm alliance ALN to bolster its cross-border and pan-African capabilities. 

The alliance takes ALN’s jurisdiction count across the continent to 16 and gives existing partner firms and their clients access to legal expertise in Africa’s largest economy. It also provides member firms access to Aluko & Oyebode’s broader pool of specialist teams and resources, which bring vast regional and international experience to the table.

Kofo Dosekun, chairman of ALN Nigeria | Aluko & Oyebode, said: “The African continent is an undeniably dynamic market and a springboard for real development opportunities for many domestic and international companies.”

She added: “With this joining of forces, we bring a tailor-made legal service to our domestic and international clients with a focus on meeting the highest international standards to support and secure their operations wherever they are operating.” 

Aluko & Oyebode is a full service corporate and commercial law firm covering a range of practice areas from banking and capital markets to litigation, dispute resolution and tax. It currently employs more than 80 attorneys spread over three offices in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja. 

Cheick Modibo Diarra, chairman of ALN, said: “The addition of Aluko & Oyebode’s expertise and extensive experience into our fold means that clients can trust that we are an alliance that spans Africa and connects her to the world, that they can thrive in this evolving market and achieve their commercial objectives with ALN’s unique combination of local and international expertise, intellectual rigour and agility on their side.”

ALN differs from other law firm alliances in Africa, which are typically a looser collection of alliances. ALN’s model uses common branding and a central management team to ensure operational integration among member firms so clients get a seamless, consistent experience across jurisdictions. Other firms in the member network include A&K Tanzania, Anjarwalla & Khanna in Kenya and ADNA in Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Morocco. 

Reginald Udom, managing partner of ALN Nigeria | Aluko & Oyebode, said: “As an alliance of integrated law firms in Africa, our people and their knowledge are critical assets in differentiating us from our competitors and in adding value to our service offering.”

Another African firm to have boosted its coverage across the continent recently is South Africa’s Bowmans, which signed a cooperation agreement last October with French heavyhitter Gide Loyrette Nouel. The move saw the two firms, which have a track record of collaboration and respective offerings in English-speaking and Francophone Africa, agree to work closely together to strengthen client relationships and share their knowledge of the African market. 

Prominent international firms are also looking to Africa, among them Dentons, which last month announced a tie-up with Tunis-based Zaanouni Law Firm as part of its bid to become a leading pan-African law firm. 

The move gave the global giant its 17^th location on the continent and followed last year’s combinations with Mozambique’s Fernanda Lopes & Associados-Advogados and Nigeria’s Adepetun Caxton-Martins Agbor & Segun, which made it only the second international law firm after DLA Piper to secure a presence in Nigeria.  

Meantime Allen & Overy doubled down on its commitment to South Africa in April with the addition of corporate and commercial partners Brian Price and Ze’ev Blieden in Johannesburg from top local outfit Werksmans. The firm said at the time the hires reflected its ongoing push to diversify its specialist offering in the country, which also saw the firm add a six-partner team from Linklaters ally Webber Wentzel in Johannesburg last September to bolster its banking and finance team.