Global legal heavyweights join forces

Leading independent law firm Knight Turner has joined forces with global legal heavyweight Eversheds LLP.

Photo: Andrew Turner

The affiliation has seen the Durban firm re-brand as Eversheds with a dramatically expanded scope and reach of its product offering, while retaining its reputation for unpretentious, personalised service.

Eversheds is one of the largest full service law firms in the world with offices in major cities across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Knight Turner’s founding partner, Andrew Turner described the tie-up as a once in a lifetime opportunity that offered huge benefits, both for the respected La Lucia Ridge firm and its clients.

“The affiliation will give us increased reach within South Africa, Africa and beyond. It will also vastly increase our access to legal knowledge and resources,” Turner said. “We will retain our distinctive culture and value system, but operate under the global Eversheds brand which will give us a unique competitive advantage.”

Eversheds unveiled a new pan-African strategy last year, outlining its plans to invest in and establish its brand in key African jurisdictions.

At the same time, it launched Eversheds Africa Law Institute (EALI), signing up firms from around the continent to participate in the venture. The institute is designed to allow member firms to access training programmes and share business opportunities across the continent. EALI has since experienced rapid growth and to date has a network of 33 members in 37 offices across 31 African countries.

The agreement with Knight Turner now gives it a presence in KwaZulu-Natal at the centre of one of Southern Africa’s key commercial and logistics hubs.

Bryan Hughes, Chief Executive of Eversheds, said, “This latest agreement with established firm Knight Turner forms a key part of our strategy as we firmly establish a presence in South Africa. Durban offers a strong commercial and logistics hub and we look forward to working collaboratively with Knight Turner to offer a seamless client experience.”

Visit the Eversheds website here.