Johannesburg

The South African arm of Anglo-Australian law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has hired three senior lawyers and their teams from other international firms in Johannesburg, to bolster its corporate, competition, and technology and telecoms practices.

Corporate transactions lawyer Ross Lomax will join the firm as a partner on August 1 from Norton Rose Fulbright in South Africa, where he was head of corporate, mergers and acquisitions. He will be the firm's second M&A partner in Johannesburg and focuses on the mining and renewable energy sectors.

His hire comes on the back of Nick Altini joining the firm as a partner earlier this month from Baker McKenzie, where he was head of the firm's South African competition practice.

Altini advisies high-profile companies on competition law, as well as providing regulatory and compliance advice across the advertising, airline, entertainment and gaming sectors.

In June, the firm hired Norton Rose Fulbright lawyer Rohan Isaacs as a senior consultant in its Johannesburg office to boost its telecommunications, media and technology offering. Isaacs had been head of the TMT practice at Norton Rose Fulbright.

The hires, along with their teams, will add 13 lawyers to Herbert Smith Freehills' Johannesburg office and take its total lawyer headcount to about 70, including seven partners.

"Client demand for expertise and advice on mergers and acquisitions, competition and innovation through technology is constantly rising and we are meeting this demand by building our offer across the firm," managing partner of the Johannesburg office, Ed Baring, said in a statement.

"The additions of Ross, Nick, Rohan and their teams, all of whom enjoy unparalleled reputations in the market, serve to demonstrate our determination to provide clients with access to the highest-quality advice under one roof," he added.