Norton Rose Fullbright in South Africa has filed a lawsuit against top government officials, including the justice and trade ministers, challenging a new ethnicity rating system that may hamper its ability to bid for work and retain clients.

In its filing at the Gauteng Division of the Pretoria High Court, the law firm asked for the legal sector code on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) gazetted in September 2024 to be set aside because it imposes “unreasonable and unrealistic” targets for large law firms that want to maintain a strong B-BBEE rating.