Bowmans (law firm)

Bowmans is the brand identity of a pan-African legal practice comprising the following law firms Coulson Harney LLP (Kenya), Koep & Partners (Namibia), Bowmans Mauritius (Mauritius), Bowman Gilfillan (South Africa), Bowmans Tanzania (Tanzania) and B&M Legal Practitioners (Zambia).

Bowmans

No. of offices	9
No. of attorneys	650
No. of employees	1150
Major practice areas	Corporate Law Firm
Key people	Ezra Davids (Chairman and Senior Partner)
Date founded	1885
Founder	Douglas Flemmer Gilfillan, Richard Bowman
Website	www.bowmanslaw.com

It has over 650 lawyers located in nine offices (Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Lusaka, Moka, Nairobi, Swakopmund and Windhoek) in six African countries (Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia).

Bowmans has signed alliance agreements with Aman & Partners LLP in Ethiopia and Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie in Nigeria and has a non-exclusive co-operation agreement with French international law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel.

It is a representative of Lex Mundi, a global association of independent law firms in more than 125 countries.

It is one of the "Big Five law firms" in South Africa.

History

Bowman Gilfillan was formed through the merger in 1998 of three law firms – Bowman Gilfillan Hayman Godfrey (established 1902), Findlay & Tait (established 1885) and John & Kernick (established 1923).^{[citation needed]}

In January 2025, 57 former members of A&O Shearman, including 14 partners, joined Bowmans.^[1][2] This was after A&O Shearman announced that they would shut down their South African operations.^[3]

Major deals

In 2009, the firm advised Bharti Airtel, India's largest cellular services provider in their proposed acquisition of the MTN Group, the largest announced but uncompleted merger in South Africa's history with a value of $23 billion.^[4]