Clyde & Co expands South African presence
Global law firm Clyde & Co has expanded its South Africa presence with the hire of five partners, four of which specialise in insurance.
Tony Hardie, Amelia Costa, Robert Scott and Alon Meyerov join the firm's Johannesburg office and Athol Gordon joins the firm in Cape Town.
Hardie is a litigator who joins the firm from Norton Rose Fulbright, where he was head of the insurance practice.
Costa specialises in insurance, ranging from cover disputes, defence work, subrogated recoveries and regulatory and compliance work. She also joins from Norton Rose Fulbright.
Scott focuses on commercial litigation, construction and insurance. He joins from ENS Africa, where he spent six years as a partner in the dispute resolution department.
Meyerov focuses on litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution in the construction and engineering sector. He also joins from ENS Africa.
Gordon is a leader in high value medical malpractice claims, joining from Bowman Gilfillan.
The team will also include a number of other lawyers including Christopher MacRoberts and Ina Iyer who join from Norton Rose Fulbright, Jo Spies who has joined from Webber Wenztel and Kate Swart and Nicole Gabryk who are joining from ENS.
The new additions bring the total number of legal professionals at Clyde & Co in South Africa to approximately 30.
The appointments mark a major expansion in Clyde & Co's client offering in South Africa. The firm launched both offices in May 2014 with an insurance and marine disputes focus. The new additions further strengthen this focus while also adding new capability in construction and commercial disputes.
Earlier this month the company also hired a sixth partner, Ernie van der Vyver, who specialises in corporate insurance and regulatory.
James Burns, senior partner, said: "The Clyde & Co approach to opening in target markets is to find a first class team in one of our core sectors and to then build out from there in line with our clients' needs. With this latest growth, which comes less than 18 months after launch, we are now into the second phase. We're delighted that Tony, Amelia, Rob, Alon, Athol and Ernie have chosen to join us."
Maurice Kenton, international arbitration group partner, added: "With this latest expansion we are now not only firmly established as a top tier insurance practice in the region but have also positioned ourselves in a position of strength in the commercial and construction disputes space.
“Our clear strength in disputes, whether domestic or international, and the insurance sector minimises conflicts and means we are uniquely positioned to provide our clients with muscular litigation and arbitration services."
