Given Africa's resources and status as one of the few parts of the world with strong economic growth, it is hardly surprising that international law firms have been busily reviewing their Africa strategies. 

The list of countries identified as targets is long. For example, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is eyeing countries such as Mauritania, Congo-Brazzaville, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Morocco, while Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and Sudan are on Pinsent Masons' target list. Berwin Leighton Paisner has earmarked, among other countries, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Cameroon and Gabon. So between them, three London-based firms have identified 15 African countries as having the potential to generate decent levels of legal work. 

Meanwhile, Slaughter and May has become the latest to set up a referral-type deal on the continent by teaming up with nine African law firms to pursue disputes work. It is all a good indication both of the promise of Africa and its sheer size and diversity. 

Indeed, the continent is far larger than many people think, thanks to the fact that its size relative to other continents is distorted through the process of representing a sphere on a two-dimensional map. In 2010 computer graphics expert Kai Krause produced a map of Africa overlayed by China, the US, India and Europe, all of which sat comfortably within its boundaries. 

At the Legal Week Corporate Counsel Forum Africa, which took place in Johannesburg last week, there was a fascinating discussion about the pitfalls of treating Africa as if it were a uniform block of countries with similar cultures and business practices. One South Africa-based general counsel joked that, for many South Africans, the real Africa began north of their border, with the exception of Mauritius, where South Africans like to holiday. He warned South African lawyers to guard against taking this attitude with them when doing business in the rest of Africa.

His words struck a chord with a Ghanaian delegate, who said her compatriots tended to be polite in business dealings but warned that if they took a dislike to someone they could be quietly obstructive without the other party ever knowing. The point was also made that African politicians and civil servants were powerful within their borders and you had to work with them. Nobody was suggesting that corruption was not an issue, but there was a plea for international lawyers and those based in South Africa to tread lightly in other African countries.

All of which suggests that those UK and US firms whose strategy is simply to open in Johannesburg – or form South African alliances – have only just scratched the surface of this vast continent.

For more, see: Slaughters joins forces with African firms to target disputes work.