Pinsent Masons is to launch its first office in Africa, with the hire of two partners in Johannesburg.

The firm has hired two partners from Bowman Gilfillan to launch the infrastructure-focused office.

Bowman's head of construction Rob Morson is joining as a partner, alongside construction disputes partner Shane Voigt.

Morson acts for clients on both contentious and non-contentious construction matters, advising on mining, energy and industrial projects.

Voigt focuses on construction litigation for clients that include contractors, consultants and architects.

Pinsents' senior partner Richard Foley said: "Africa is a fast-growing market with clear infrastructure need. It's a market where we are already doing significant business for Chinese organisations, European contractors, investors and funds.

"Having an on-the-ground presence in Johannesburg, led by a team with a market-leading reputation, will enable us to scale the existing practice significantly."

He added that the firm would initially focus on infrastructure projects, with a focus on the IT, telecoms, energy and transport sectors.

Richard Laudy, the firm's head of infrastructure, said: "This is not just a construction disputes or commercial offering, it's an infrastructure offering and in order to do that you need the skills to match, so we will need to add to Rob and Shane with project finance and corporate lawyers."

He said: "The firm is already in advanced talks with very highly regarded project and corporate lawyers in the region and our plan is that they will be joining us in time for our opening in February 2017."

Laudy said the firm was aiming to build a nine- or 10-partner office initially, with about 20 lawyers in total.

The South African office, which will be fully integrated into the wider firm, will take Pinsents to 22 offices worldwide.

It will be the second office the firm has launched in 2016, following its launch in Duesseldorf, Germany in January.

In 2015, the firm opened an infrastructure-focused office in Australia, opening offices in Melbourne and Sydney.