Following a successful international private practice career in project finance, Matthew Burchell has made it a core focus at Investec to achieve closer integration with the business.

‘We’ve tried to position the legal team as a trusted advisor to the business and spent a lot of time trying to build the legal department brand’, he says. ‘On the transactional front, we have tried to embed ourselves as part of the deal team’.

Working for one of the region’s leading investment managers, Burchell has supported some of Africa’s most important deals, and it is both his technical abilities and business acumen which set him apart, according to sources we interviewed. ‘The successes are a combination of things’, Burchell himself says. ‘One of the biggest highlights of my in-house career has been the ability to drive growth in African businesses, through my involvement in a vast array of investments across the African continent. We have been involved in cutting edge deals, which needed a strong legal presence to guide the business’. Africa’s legal landscape is changing significantly, he says, with growing interest from overseas investors leading to heightened regulatory demands. ‘Africa can be a risky place to do business if you don’t go in with your eyes wide open’.

As well as growing in-house legal teams to meet compliance and regulatory demands, he has observed a rush from offshore firms who recognise the business potential of entering the jurisdiction. ‘The one thing external counsel in Africa could improve upon is being honest about their skills and experience’, Burchell says. ‘It can do more harm than good if you try to wing it. Law firms can easily tarnish relationships if they don’t perform as hoped. Africa is a continent, not a country – each country’s regulatory and business environment is different and when you’re appointing external counsel you need to have the right horse for the course’.