As one of the most established corporate law firms in South Africa, Bowman Gilfillan goes out of its way to deliver superb legal services of the highest international standards.
Thanks to the efforts of our expert commercial attorneys, Bowman Gilfillan has received a range of prestigious awards, including:
International Law Office Client Choice Awards for South Africa, 2005, 2006 and 2008
Ideal Employer to work for (Legal Category): Magnet Communications Graduate survey, 2004 and 2006. Runners up in 2005
Dealmakers M&A Award: First in the category Legal Advisors Mergers & Acquisitions 2006 (Deal Value - R61,398 billion)
Ernst & Young M&A Award: First in the category Legal Advisors Mergers & Acquisitions 2006 (Deal Value - R69,727 billion) and second in 2007 (Deal Value - R110.8 billion)
In 2010, PLC Which Lawyer ranked us first in the following areas:
Competition/Anti-trust
Corporate/M&A
Dispute Resolution
Labour and Employee Benefits
In 2010, Legal 500 ranked us first in the following areas:
Corporate/M&A
Dispute Resolution
Labour and Employment
In 2010, IFLR 1000 ranked us first in the following areas:
Mergers & Acquisitions - Clients say “the individual partners compare well with the top individual lawyers in the US”…
Competition/Anti-trust - Clients agree that “the senior people are all very skilled and highly knowledgeable”…
Please keep reading for further details of some of the awards Bowman Gilfillan has won:
2008 Who’s Who Legal South African Law Firm of the Year Award
In judging these awards Who’s Who Legal have studied the nominations made by clients and fellow professionals. All lawyers on this website are leaders in their fields but the exceptional performances of some deserve recognition. They also give Who's Who Legal awards to the outstanding firms in 50 countries and five US states. For more information please visit the Who's Who Legal website.
Winner: Best Law Firm of the year: Africa 2008 at the PLC Which Lawyer Law Firm Awards
Jon Schlosberg with the 2008 award
The PLC Which lawyer Awards are particularly prestigious because they are voted for by our clients. Based upon PLC's research of the market, they identify the highest ranked firms in each region. They approach general counsel with the list and ask them to vote for their winner (they are also free to choose firms from outside the list). The winner is the firm receiving most votes from the 5,500 general counsel canvassed globally.
2007 African Law Firm of the Year - Chambers & Partners
Chambers Global Awards 2007
Bowman Gilfillan won the 2007 African Law Firm of the Year award, and was also the winner of the 2003/4 – and runner up of the 2005/6 – African Corporate Law Firm of the Year Award by legal publisher Chambers and Partners.
Top Company of the Year
Bowman Gilfillan won "Top Company of the Year" in the Support Services category in 2005 at the National Business Awards.
The Top Companies of the Year represent the country’s best performers in 13 different business sectors, which are selected by the Awards Nomination Panel according to a number of key criteria. These include annual turnover, growth, export and trade orientation, contribution to Black Economic Empowerment and transformation, contribution to job creation and the economy, and overall quality of performance.
Human Resources Officer of Bowman Gilfillan,
Khulile Ngombane (right),
receiving the firm's
award
Bowman Gilfillan has been voted the Ideal Employer in the law category during a survey that was done among students of all major universities throughout the country. The survey was conducted by Swedish company, Magnet Communications, in conjunction with the SA Graduate Recruiters Association.
The main purpose of the survey was to identify companies that graduates believe to be the best employers.
International Law Office Client Choice Award
Bowman Gilfillan won the International Law Office Client Choice Award for South Africa 2005, 2006 and again in 2008. The award recognises law firms around the world that are set apart by the excellent client care and quality of service they provide.
The ILO Client Choice Awards were established in 2005 to recognize those law firms around the world that stand apart for the excellent client care they provide and the quality of their service. The criteria for the awards focus on law firms' ability to add real value to their clients' business above and beyond the other players in the market.
The Client Choice Awards are unique in that they only approach in-house counsel for nominations. This year's winners were chosen from more than 1,500 individual assessments received from corporate counsel worldwide. Firms were assessed on the following criteria: Quality of legal advice; Value for money; Commercial awareness; Effective communication; Billing transparency; Tailored fee structures; Depth of team; Response time; Sharing of expertise and Use of technology.
The 2005/2006 trophy was presented to Bowman Gilfillan chairman, Jonathan Schlosberg, at a ceremony in Chicago.
The criteria for the awards focused on law firms’ ability to add real value to their clients' businesses above and beyond the other players in the market. The shortlist was generated exclusively from an ILO subscriber survey of corporate counsel.
The firms were assessed on the following criteria: Quality of legal advice, value for money, commercial awareness, effective communication, billing transparency, tailored fee structures, depth of team, response time, sharing of expertise and use of technology. The awards research team also conducted interviews and additional research to establish this year's winning firms. Winners were chosen across 34 jurisdictions worldwide.
The Client Choice Awards are issued by the International Law Office (ILO). ILO became the official online media partner of the International Bar Association in 2002, and an international online media partner of the Association of Corporate Counsel in 2005.
Launched in 1998, the International Law Office (ILO) is one of the leading online legal update services for major companies worldwide. With over 37,000 subscribers, it represents a key portal through which law firms communicate with their clients. Recognized for the pre-eminent service it provides, ILO became the Official Online Media Partner to the International Bar Association in 2002, an International Online Media Partner to the Association of Corporate Counsel in 2005 and European Online Media Partner to the European Company Lawyers Association in 2006.
The proposed merger of Tsogo Sun Holdings (Proprietary) Limited ("Tsogo") and Gold Reef Resorts Limited ("Gold Reef"). The merger is to be effected through the acquisition by Gold Reef of all the shares in Tsogo from Tsogo's two shareholders, SABSA Holdings (Proprietary) Limited and Tsogo Investment Holding Company (Proprietary) Limited, in exchange for the issue by Gold Reef of new shares to Tsogo's two shareholders, resulting in these two shareholders owning about 80% of the issued shares in Gold Reef (i.e. reverse take-over of Gold Reef)
On 27 November 2009 the governments of South Africa and Zimbabwe signed a Bilateral Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (BIPPA) in Harare.
In terms of the agreements preamble, the two countries entered into the agreement because they desire to create favourable conditions for greater investment by South African investors in Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwean investors in South Africa.
Bowman Gilfillan is involved in a continuous transformation process and in 2004 adapted a Transformation Charter. The Transformation Charter was revised in 2008 with recommendations for the next 3 years.
Bowman Gilfillan is proud to be one of the first large commercial firms to develop and implement a comprehensive pro bono policy. In accordance with this policy we pursue meritorious public-law cases and act for indigent clients in a number of ongoing matters. As a responsible corporate citizen, Bowman Gilfillan encourages its practitioners to seek to provide legal services to deserving organisations and individuals on a pro bono (free) basis. A number of pro bono matters have been taken on in a wide variety of fields, from education to healthcare and other social services and partnerships have been established with recognised public interest legal services providers such as the Legal Resources Centre and the Aids Law Project.
Bowman Gilfillan has also entered into an arrangement with CIDA City Campus, particularly in business subjects, in terms of which we prepare the lecture materials for, and present lectures to, their second year students. We also provide CIDA with legal advice. All of this is done free of any charge, as part of our social responsibility programme.
We are an independent corporate law firm with well established relationships with some of the leading law firms in the major financial centres of the world.
Bowman Gilfillan has formed an association with Coulson Harney Advocates, a corporate and commercial law firm in Kenya. The association provides Coulson Harney with a springboard for its involvement in legal advisory work around Africa.