WSG 2014 Africa/Middle East Regional Meeting

If you participated in the WSG 2014 Africa/Middle East Regional Meeting and would like to fill out a survey, please complete the form online at www.worldservicesgroup.com/meetingsurvey.aspx?pid=43&id=929

1. Welcome 2. Guest Speaker Presentation: The Changing Political/Economic Environment in Africa and the Middle East 3. Panel Discussion: How Should Lawyers and Law Firms in Africa & The Middle East Respond to the Changing Business Environment in Our Region? 4. Speaker Presentation: Lessons Learned from the Expansion of Multinational Law Firms into Eastern Europe 5. Guest Speaker Presentation: Multinational Law Firms in the Middle East 6. Panel Discussion: The Multinational Law Firms – Friend or Foe? 7. WSG Updates

1. Welcome

Rand Hannun, WSG Chair of the Africa/Middle East Regional Council, formally welcomed all representatives to Cape Town and introduced Koos Pretorius of the host firm ENSafrica.

Rand Hannun Chair Africa/Middle East Regional Council World Services Group

2. Guest Speaker Presentation: The Changing Political/Economic Environment in Africa and the Middle East

Presentation

Guest Speaker:   Iraj Abedian Ph.D. Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Pan-African Capital Holdings (PTY) Ltd.

3. Panel Discussion: How Should Lawyers and Law Firms in Africa & The Middle East Respond to the Changing Business Environment in Our Region?

Moderator: Doron Joffe Director ENSafrica

4. Speaker Presentation: Lessons Learned from the Expansion of Multinational Law Firms Into Eastern Europe

Twenty-five years ago the collapse of the Soviet Union opened up the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (“CEE”) to the outside world for the first time in over 50 years. Today many of those countries are members of the European Union and those members together with the remaining candidate countries in the region represent over half of the European Union’s population. Some of those former communist bloc countries now enjoy standards of living above those of some of the legacy members of the European Union. CEE also boasts the only European economy to consistently maintain substantial GCP growth throughout the period since the financial crisis of 2008.

For lawyers, all of these new markets which had the combined potential to double the size of the European legal market appeared almost overnight. In 1989 there were no private business law firms in CEE. Today there are thousands – comprising a full range of law firms from purely local commercial practices to the local offices of the world’s global market leading firms. A number of international law firms have attempted to expand into the region – some were spectacular failures while others went on to become market leaders. The experience in terms of how to enter emerging markets during periods of rapid growth hold some interesting lessons for law firms considering new markets in our region.

Speaker: Michael Tétreault Schilling Executive ENSafrica (Mauritus)

5. Guest Speaker Presentation: Multinational Law Firms in the Middle East

Should multinational corporates doing business in Africa and the Middle East rely on the global elite firms headquartered in London, Paris and New York for legal support or should they rather make use of local or regional law firms who have their roots firmly in Africa and the Middle East for external legal support? Does the answer to this question depend on the nature of the project in question or are there some principles of general application at stake here?

Presentation

Guest Speaker: Nasser Ali Khasawneh Managing Partner – Middle East Eversheds LLP

6. Panel Discussion: The Multinational Law Firms – Friend or Foe?

Presentation

Moderator: Thierry Koenig Director ENSafrica (Mauritius)

7. WSG Africa/Middle East Regional Updates

WSG organizational and Africa/Middle East Regional Council updates for 2014.