Fee hogging, anger, and disrespect are some of the complaints by African law firms against their global counterparts, according to a new report on the state of the legal profession in Africa by U.K.-based Redstone Consultants.

As economies mature in Africa, there’s increased competition between local and international law firms and the rising perception that some foreign players don’t really understand how to do business in Africa, according to a video by 

The market for African law firms’ services is growing, becoming more dynamic and more competitive, the report said.

Stephen Blundell, managing director at Redstone, talked with Lee Pacchia of Mimesis, a legal business news web service.

Some of the international firms don’t anticipate the realities of working in Africa and it can lead to deal breakers, Blundell said.

“There are some horrible stories from the African firms about how they are treated by global firms who put trainees on to manage the relationship,” he said in the video.

Redstone put out a report March 5 on the state of the legal profession in Africa. For the report, Redstone interviewed partners in 15 global law firms with Africa practice or who were doing personal business in Africa. It also approached African law firms and had 36 respondents from 12 different African countries.

“Bad experiences are … mainly characterized by an attitude of superiority and treating the African firm as a supplier rather than a partner,” according to the report.

Blundell said the relationship bewteen global and local African law firms is often paradoxical. Both parties would say they get along famously but there’s certainly some tension when African firms depend on international referrals.

Typically, 30-to-75 percent of the fee revenue of local firms comes from international referrals, Blundell said. “They’re friends in that sense but as the global firms are getting much more interested in Africa so they become big-time competitors of the firms. When you ask the African firms who their main competitors are, the international firms are head and shoulders above any other players as competition.”

Some of the tension Redstone reports reflects that. “Inevitably as they try and jockey for position, there’s some unhappy experience on both sides.”

Is there an imbalance? Do African firms have less leverage in the relationship?

“There are some paradoxes,” Blundell said. “In terms of brand power, reputation and sheer command of force, global firms have the upper hand but in other respects Africans have more power. There are very few lawyers capable of doing international work in both jurisdictions (inside and outside Africa). The whole market is constrained by supply. Global firms have little choice over what firms they will go to in Africa. Those that trained at English and U.S. academic institutions — there are relatively few of them and they charge a premium.”

Do international firms understand how business works in Africa?

Bludell said it’s shocking in some cases how little they understand. There are some global firms that have been in Africa for a long time and understand the market and are culturally sympathetic. Others don’t, and there are some horrible stories where international firms put trainees on to handle relationships with experienced African partners.

“The globals firms hit all sorts of turbulence (in Africa) because the ways of dong business are much more fraught, much more complex, and the sheer expectations by the global firms that everything will be tickety-boo just comes unhinged. That can cause deals to fall apart unnecessarily,” Blundell said.

In the future, will international firms try to buy out African firms outright or will there be more startegic partnerships?

There are some regulatory impediments to practicing law in Africa, Blundell said, but there are many ways global firms can create a presence without breaking rules.

You can read the full Redstone report here on the state of the legal profession in Africa.

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