DLA Piper has opened an office Casablanca, its first base in Africa, with the hire of a partner from Clifford Chance's base in the city.

The Moroccan office will be led by managing partner Christophe Bachelet, who will be supported by disputes partner Mehdi Kettani and counsel Mohamed Mahjoubi.

Corporate lawyer Bachelet has joined the firm from Clifford Chance in Casablanca where he was a counsel.

Kettani, who is currently a lawyer at local firm Kettani Associes, is a member of the Casablanca bar and focuses on litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters in relation to the banking, corporate, commercial and employment sectors.

Mahjoubi joined the firm two years ago from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He is a project finance lawyer who advises on energy, mining and infrastructure projects. He will move to Casablanca from the firm's Paris office.

DLA will also launch an office in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the first quarter of next year.

It announced its plans to open in Johannesburg in August after its split from its South African alliance partner Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH). The split followed the breakdown of merger talks between the two firms.

Former-CDH chief operating officer Michael Whitaker has been appointed to assist in the development of DLA's South Africa base.

DLA Piper also has a network of 15 firms across the continent, the DLA Africa group, that it works closely with.

In a joint statement Simon Levine and Jay Rains, global co-chief executives of DLA Piper, said the Casablanca office opening was "crucial" to the development of the firm's Africa business.

They added: "These new steps align with and complement our existing Africa Group and the next steps in our plan to truly establish the DLA Piper brand across the continent."

DLA is the latest international firm to open in Morocco. Baker & McKenzie opened in 2012 and Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Norton Rose Fulbright all opened in 2011.