Law Firm Highlights (July/Aug16)
- Hogan Lovells has entered into an association with Indonesian law firm, Dewi Negara Fachri & Partners (DNFP) as of June 1, 2016. Hogan Lovells has also recruited a new corporate partner in Singapore – Noor Meurling – who is the lead partner responsible for building the relationship between the two firms. Hogan Lovells has over 30 years’ experience in Asia and has advised on transactions in Indonesia. DNFP was established by founding partners Dewi Djarot and Fachri Fachrul. The association between Hogan Lovells and DNFP brings together many years of combined local and international legal expertise and allows both firms to significantly expand their offering. Hogan Lovells corporate partner Noor Meurling was formerly a partner at Ashurst, resident in their associated firm in Jakarta where she led the corporate M&A practice.
- Fichte & Co. is gearing up for aggressive growth by opening an office in Abu Dhabi and launching an Iran desk. The firm’s team of seven partners and 25 lawyers recently celebrated Fichte and Co.’s 10th The firm has traditionally staked its reputation as leading maritime firm but it has corporate and litigation arms, which give it the breadth to represent clients across a number of industry verticals. Fichte and Co. regularly provides counsel to the oil and gas, retail and transportation industries, helping companies to navigate complex legal matters outside of and within the DIFC courts, in both Arabic and English. The firm’s newly launched Abu Dhabi office was opened by Fichte and Co.’s partner, Ziad Touma, earlier this year. Fichte and Co. senior associate, Atousa Mahmoud has launched an Iran desk from the firm’s Dubai office. The desk brings together specialist lawyers from the firm’s global network to advise clients on recent updates on the sanctions regime, business development, Iranian laws and regulations, corresponding international laws and regulations, and business interests.
- Responding to the substantial growing demand for infrastructure assets throughout Africa, Dentons and African development finance institution Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) joined forces to host the Powering Africa’s Future Forum. The event explored both the benefits and opportunities available to investors in infrastructure development and financing on the African continent. Delegates examined case studies of key projects such as the Kpone Independent Power Plant project in Ghana, which was the single biggest IPP in Africa and the first project to receive the majority of its debt finance from African financial institutions. “Insights such as this are invaluable – lessons learned from previous projects can be used to better shape risk allocation and improve the structuring of bankable projects.” commented Neil Cuthbert, senior partner at Dentons. Discussions also focused on project development and on managing a workable investment process. “Increasing private sector interest in African infrastructure investment, stronger project-preparation skills as well as the availability of early stage funding are key to turning prospects into bankable projects,” explained Sanjeev Gupta, head of financial services at AFC. Speakers at the forum included AFC’s CEO Andrew Alli, chief investment officer Oliver Andrews and COO and general counsel, Dr. Adesegun Akin-Olugbade, in addition to Cenpower director and CFO, Kenichi Okemoto and Dentons senior partner, Neil Cuthbert.
- DLA Piper has signed a deal that will give its M&A team access to artificial intelligence technologies for due diligence, reported The Global Legal Post. The agreement between DLA Piper and Canadian tech firm Kira Systems marks the firm’s first official venture into the world of AI. DLA Piper lawyers working on M&A deals will soon be able to make use of Kira’s machine-learning software for reviewing documents in due diligence, with the firm planning to steadily roll out the Kira system to other practice areas by teaching the software to identify provisions needed for contract review. The landmark deal follows pilots of the Kira software conducted across DLA Piper’s corporate, IP and IT practices, which delivered tangible improvements in both speed and accuracy. In March, Kira Systems cinched a similar deal with Big Four accounting giant Deloitte, which will allow the firm to use the machine-learning software to review documents relating to investigations, project management and M&A deals.
