Dr Wilbert Kapinga, who helped establish Bowmans’ presence in Tanzania seven years ago, has recently moved into the role of senior partner, making way for Michael Strain to become managing partner.
Strain is an experienced corporate lawyer who previously trained, qualified and practised in London. He relocated to East Africa 11 years ago and has now been promoted from partner in Bowmans’ Tanzania office where, in addition to his new management role, he continues to advise on many of the country’s largest M&A transactions.
His track record in Tanzania, before and after joining Bowmans, includes providing legal counsel for companies like Tembo Nickel, Orecorp, Peak Rare Earths, Walkabout Resources, Strandline and Black Rock Mining – all of which are developing very large new mining projects for Tanzania.
Over the years he was also involved in Exim Bank’s acquisition of the business and assets of First National Bank Tanzania, and provided legal advice to both the Omani Sovereign Wealth Fund on the equity arrangements associated with a proposed $10 billion port project in Bagamoyo, and international oil companies Shell and Equinor on aspects associated with their planned investment in a $45 billion onshore LNG facility in southern Tanzania.
Strain said he appreciated the opportunity to take over the mantle at Bowmans Tanzania from Kapinga “at such an exciting time for the legal profession in this country”.
“Bowmans sees Tanzania as a strategic centre for growth in the region,” he said, “and my plan is to build on the good work already done by my predecessor in achieving this goal.”
The company, which describes itself as “an African law firm with global reach”, currently has offices in five other African countries apart from Tanzania: Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia.
Strain was speaking on the back of a series of events hosted in East Africa by Africa Legal and the UK Ministry of Justice’s GREAT Legal Services campaign, which focused on fostering collaboration between UK and East African legal practitioners.
He explained that in Tanzania the firm intends to put more focus on increasing its legal service portfolio in areas with tangible potential such as mining, infrastructure and financial services.
“We are well placed to assist investors coming into the country with all aspects of legal advice in these and other high-growth sectors,” he added.
Giving his perspective on the way legal practice as a whole is evolving in Tanzania, Strain said it was particularly refreshing to see a lot of young local talent cropping up every year to help confront new challenges brought about by the digital age and other emerging trends in global commerce.
“We recently held a roundtable of legal company managing partners like myself in Dar es Salaam where we agreed on the need to increase our cooperation in tapping the many new opportunities for legal interventions that are constantly becoming available here in Tanzania and across the region,” he stated.
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