Herbert Smith Freehills has appointed corporate lawyer, Rudolph du Plessis, as partner in its Johannesburg office. Rudolph, who has spent his entire legal career in South Africa, will be the firm’s first M&A partner in the Johannesburg office.
Scott Cochrane, Global Head of the firm’s Corporate practice, commented: “We welcome Rudolph to the firm and we look forward to working with him. He is a first-class lawyer with excellent experience who will be a great addition to our South Africa office and the wider Africa practice, as well as our top-tier global corporate M&A offering.”
Rudolph has particular expertise in cross-border M&A transactions and regularly advises multi-nationals and foreign companies on investment in South Africa which includes advice on structuring issues and exchange control regulations.
Having been a partner for 15 years, Rudolph is a well-established and respected practitioner in the South African M&A market. The last 10 years of his practice has seen a split between domestic work for South African clients, work for multinationals investing in South Africa and Sub-Saharan work for domestic and multinational clients.
Commenting on joining Herbert Smith Freehills, Rudolph said: “This is an incredible opportunity to help grow and develop a South African corporate practice for a truly global law firm. I was attracted to Herbert Smith Freehills’ ambitious plans in the corporate market and I look forward to helping maintain and grow the firm’s presence in Africa.”
Rudolph joins Herbert Smith Freehills from Bowman Gilfillan, where he has been a partner since 2001, and has been recognised for his corporate work by top legal directories.
Rudolph received his law degree from Northwest University in 1996 and an LLM from the University of Johannesburg in 2004, and was admitted to practice in South Africa in 1998 and as a Notary Public in 2000.
Rudolph is the latest addition to Herbert Smith Freehills’ South African partnership and follows the partner appointments of Peter Leon and Brigette Baillie in October last year, including the relocation of partners Bertrand Montembault and Ed Baring.
Over the past 30 years, Herbert Smith Freehills has established a leading position in Africa, with one of the largest teams of common and civil law lawyers dedicated to Africa work, acting on matters in over 50 of Africa’s 54 countries. The launch of the Johannesburg office in October 2015 further strengthened the firm’s Africa practice. Consistently ranked in the top tier by Chambers and Legal 500, the firm has more ranked lawyers for Projects & Energy Africa in Chambers Global than any other firm and operates across a large number of sectors including Energy, Mining, TMT, Banks, Consumer & Retail and Financial Buyers.
Peter Leon, co-chair of the Africa practice, commented:
“Rudolph’s appointment to the Johannesburg office is an important step in our commitment to provide an end-to-end service for leading global businesses via our pan-African offering. With clients from across our international network increasingly looking at the tremendous growth opportunities Africa has to offer, and South-African clients looking further north and across Africa in their expansion plans, Rudolph will be able to help us meet these demands with his broad experience on the continent.”
Source: www.herbertsmithfreehills.com
