DLA Piper continues South African growth by adding finance expert Phila Zulu as a Director among new hires and promotions

Recent hires and promotions, including the addition today of cross-border financing expert Phila Zulu, ensure that DLA Piper South Africa continues to meet rising client demands with the right expertise, says Johannes Gouws, Country Managing Partner, as the Johannesburg office of the global law firm announced today that six lawyers had been hired or promoted.

“We remain committed to growing our Johannesburg office in a deliberate and client-focused way,” adds Johannes, who was pleased to welcome Phila Zulu as a Director in Finance, Diwan Kamoetie as a Senior Associate in Tax, and Muhammed Ebrahim as an associate in Litigation and Regulatory, alongside congratulating Christoph Berndt, Hemlata Singh and Leratorato Madiba on their “well-deserved” promotions to Senior Associate that became effective today.

Phila joins DLA Piper in Johannesburg from his role as Legal Director & Company Secretary for Virgin Active (Africa Operations), where he covered South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana for the past decade. Before going in-house, he had worked at Deneys Reitz and ENS in South Africa, and the Debt Capital Markets (High Yield) department at White & Case in London, working on international, EU, UK, and US securities law transactions. DLA Piper South Africa notes Phila has experience in complex, multi-jurisdictional matters and specialises in credit derivatives, debt capital markets, securitisation, banking & finance, and general corporate law.

Diwan Kamoetie also joins the DLA Piper office in Johannesburg, as a Senior Associate. An accounting and law graduate of Stellenbosch University, Diwan also has an MCom in South African Tax and International Tax, and has worked for Ernst & Young and Bowmans. He has experience in international and domestic M&A tax, private equity, and exchange control.

Muhammed joins the Litigation and Regulatory team as an associate, having previously worked at Clyde & Co. Three and a half years into his legal career, Muhammed has already been ranked by Legal 500 as a recommended lawyer in Construction for South Africa.

DLA Piper South Africa has also announced three promotions in its Corporate, Finance, and Tax practices in its Johannesburg office, with associates Christoph Berndt, Hemlata Singh, and Leratorato Madiba all promoted to Senior Associate.

Christoph specialises in the tax structuring of domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. He also regularly provides advice on tax-related warranty and indemnity insurance, VAT, exchange control, and international tax matters. Hemlata advises clients on a wide range of domestic and cross-border financing transactions. Her focus areas include leveraged and acquisition financing, real estate financing, preference share funding, corporate financing and debt restructurings. Leratorato advises local and multi-national clients on equity capital markets, public and private M&A, private equity, as well as general corporate and commercial law. She has worked with clients in a variety of sectors, including financial services, consumer goods, food & retail, renewable energy and mining and infrastructure.

“Our reputation and client service excellence are a direct result of the exceptional quality of our team,” says Johannes. “We look forward to seeing you continue to deliver outstanding results.”

Today’s announcements continue the ongoing growth strategy for DLA Piper in South Africa. Earlier this year, the Johannesburg office welcomed new directors Patrick Leyden (Corporate) and Melusi Dlamini (Projects) to the team.

Over the past year it has also promoted Callie Jo Bouman, Malachizodok Mpolokeng, and former in-house lawyer Dharshini Naidoo to senior associate, and welcomed corporate expert and senior associate Annastasia Nair, formerly of Baker McKenzie, as well as Harvard-trained litigation expert Natalie Keetsi, who joined as a Director in September 2025.