The role of general counsel in promoting the rule of law in Africa will take centre stage next week as one of Africa's pre-eminent constitutional judges joins top GCs at Legal Week's Corporate Counsel Forum Africa.

Justice Johann Kriegler, who oversaw South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 before being appointed to the newly formed constitutional court, will deliver the keynote address at the forum, which takes place at The Wanderers Club in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 15 October.

The theme of his speech will be the rule of law, setting the scene for a series of panels and roundtables on the challenges faced by GCs as their companies seek to take advantage of Africa's huge economic potential against the backdrop of short-term political and economic instability and a patchwork of more than 50 jurisdictions based on several different legal traditions.

The conference will be chaired by two of the continent's most senior in-house lawyers, Michael Spivey, group general counsel of retail giant Massmart, Wal-Mart, and William Lewis, general counsel, Africa retail and business banking, at Barclays.africa-forum-web

Speakers include Shibishi Maruatona, general counsel of Ford's South Africa arm, who will lead a discussion on efforts to liberalise markets, and Ebrahim Mohamed, commissioner of the National Consumer Commission, who will discuss how GCs can build constructive relationships with regulators.

Procter & Gamble, Shell, Woolworths and Vodacom are among the companies represented at the forum while senior figures from the National Treasury of South Africa and Gauteng Provincial Territory's PPP unit are among the speakers hailing from key public bodies.

The conference will close with an interview with Pieter Badenhorst, director legal, risk and compliance, at agricultural services and processing giant AFGRI, winner of Legal Department of the Year at last year's African Legal Awards.

Law firm speakers include Sunny Mann, a compliance partner at Baker & Mckenzie, Eversheds partner Howard Barrie, and Chris Charter, director of competition at South African firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.

Meanwhile, 300 in-house and private practice lawyers will gather at The Wanderers Club on the evening of 16 October for the African Legal Awards. Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group, Allen & Overy, White & Case. Webber Wentzel, Nigeria's Aluko & Oyebode, South Africa's Spoor & Fisher, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr and Kenyan firm Anjarwalla & Khanna are among the firms shortlisted for key awards.

The key individual award for in-house counsel – General Counsel of the Year – will be contested by GCs including Madeleine Truter from The Pivotal Fund, Pieter Badenhorst from AFGRI and Charlene Louw from Road Accident Fund.

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