Meritas’ Africa Emerging Leaders Group unveils new leadership as Patricia Kamugisha is appointed as Chair and Faarzaad Soreefan as Co-Chair

The appointment of Ugandan lawyer Patricia Kamugisha as Chair of the Africa Emerging Leaders Group and Mauritian lawyer Faarzaad Soreefan as Co-Chair will build on the Group’s momentum by supporting connection, collaboration, and leadership development among emerging leaders across Africa, says Meritas.

Founded in 1990, Meritas is a global alliance of independent, market-leading law firms that provides legal services to companies looking to effectively capture opportunities and solve issues anywhere in the world. It has member firms in 246 markets worldwide, with over 9,000 dedicated, collaborative lawyers.

Among its collaborative opportunities, Meritas has Emerging Leader initiatives spanning various regions and across its global network, designed to strengthen cross-border connections among early-career lawyers. The ethos of the Africa Emerging Leaders Group initiative is to continue, through Meritas, to channel efforts in showcasing greater outreach of the breadth of legal regimes in Africa.

Newly appointed Chair Patricia Kamugisha is an associate partner at Kampala Associated Advocates, one of Uganda's largest and leading law firms. A graduate of Makerere University, Patricia is a banking and finance and corporate commercial lawyer with over eight years’ experience. Earlier this month she was named a Notable Practitioner in Banking & Finance by the 2025 IFLR1000 rankings.

In addition to the banking and finance department, Patricia also works with Kampala Associated Advocates corporate and commercial, and energy and natural resources departments. She has rendered legal advice to several clients on matters ranging from aviation, financing for infrastructure and energy related projects employment, estate planning, real estate and conveyancing, climate financing, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, insurance, immigration and has conducted regulatory compliance audits as well as security documentation audits.

Co-Chair Faarzaad Soreefan is a trilingual, dual qualified Senior Associate at Temple Law in Port Louis, whose practice encompasses dispute resolution and legal advisory services, catering to both domestic and international companies, as well as foreign governments. Temple Law is a firm founded by legendary Mauritian lawyer Urmila Boolell in 1995, the first registered law firm under the island nation’s Law Practitioners Act (Boolell is also the most senior woman at the Mauritian Bar and the first of the two women in Mauritius to ever be appointed Senior Counsel).

Faarzaad’s primary focus lies in litigation related to asset recovery, civil, commercial, and employment disputes, enforcement of international arbitration awards, financial crimes, insolvency, and urgent relief matters. Beyond his litigation practice, he provides comprehensive support on various facets of employment law, including conducting internal investigations, engaging in negotiations, and representing clients during disciplinary hearings, in addition to presiding over such proceedings.

Meritas also extended its sincere thanks to the outgoing Chairs of its Africa Emerging Leaders Group, Gertrude Assan of Ntrakwah & Co in Ghana, and Anuja Ghoorah of Temple Law, for their leadership, time, and valuable contributions to the group.