Legal team size: Seven

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

I lead the PwC East Market Africa Office of General Counsel team, supported by six lawyers in the PwC East Market Area, comprising PwC firms in six countries. PwC offers a wide range of professional services to local and multinational organisations, government, and large donor agencies, among other types of clients.

The Office of General Counsel team is responsible for the entire spectrum of PwC’s legal work in the six countries in the East Africa region. This includes monitoring legal risks, advising the business on a wide range of corporate, commercial, and regulatory matters, managing various stages of litigation, advising on legal matters arising in the internal and external business of the firm, and ensuring compliance with applicable laws across all the organisation’s operations in the East Market Area.

Our Office of General Counsel team brings considerable experience and value by working with the business to ensure that we contract with our clients, business partners, and suppliers in a manner that balances business and legal perspectives while preserving business value. We work collaboratively with the business to anticipate, influence, and respond to regulatory and public policy developments that may impact the company’s business and professional practice. Our team has grown significantly in the last two years, allowing us to implement a process of specialisation, with each lawyer focusing on partnering and collaborating with specific business units as business partners.

Which recent political, economic or regulatory changes have impacted your work the most in recent years?

The enactment of data protection legislation across all countries in the East Africa region in the last few years has highlighted the crucial role of the Office of the General Counsel in this area. We have ensured that we possess robust knowledge of the applicable data protection laws and requirements to effectively advise the business and guarantee compliance. This includes competently negotiating contracts for engagements with clients that involve data protection implications. PwC has a strong focus on digitisation, which necessitates that our team stays at the forefront of understanding the technology being deployed by the firm. This enables us to make the necessary considerations for compliance with local data protection laws.

Are there any causes, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about? 

As the PwC network increasingly leverages on the use of Artificial Intelligence, this will be a very exciting opportunity for the Office of General Counsel to utilise it for internal purposes. purposes. More importantly, we anticipate working closely with the business to support them in addressing the social, legal, and data issues that arise as they design or use AI.