Eversheds has entered into a "best friends" referral arrangement with Cape Town-based firm Walkers.

Walkers will retain its own trade name, and will add to the alliance Eversheds signed with Mahons Attorneys in 2013.

The Mahons alliance was signed the same year Eversheds pulled out of an alliance with Johannesburg-based Routledge Modise over client conflicts.

Walkers' client roster includes Ernst & Young, Investec, Hyprop Investments, Nedbank, Old Mutual, RGA Reinsurance, Standard Bank, and Woolworths.

A spokesperson for Eversheds said the agreement was short of a full formal alliance and more like a "best friends" relationship whereby the two firms would refer clients to each other where appropriate.

However, they also said there was no target for the amount of work Evershed expected to get from the arrangement or which practices it expected the agreement to stimulate.

Eversheds South Africa managing partner Peter van Niekerk said Walkers was "a first class firm" that had the "same client focused ethos" as Eversheds.

He added: "I look forward to welcoming them on board and being able to offer our clients real expertise in one of South Africa's most vibrant business hubs."

Walkers chairman Charl Theron said that Eversheds's international reach would enable his firm to better service its global clients.

Eversheds Africa Law Institute (EALI), the network of independent firms across the continent set up in 2013, now includes 37 offices across Africa.