Alison Diarra is a Hogan Lovells lawyer who oversees the law firm’s relationships across Africa. Given the firm’s pedigree and experience on the continent this is quite a job!

Woven between Alison’s deep personal connections with Africa, sits a deeply-held professional philosophy centred around the sharing of ideas, knowledge and experiences between Hogan Lovells and their relationship firms spread across the entire continent.

Alison is clear in her articulation of how this information exchange is a ‘two way street’ with the London office always more than open to learning from their friends on the continent rather than simply issuing instructions or disseminating information. 

Through dedicated initiatives such as secondments, events and collaborations on content production such as the ‘A Local Perspective’ series, Alison explains how the firm’s Africa network is “so much more than simply a list of law firms who we work with”. 

Alison goes on to discuss some of the key differentiators between the Hogan Lovells approach and other firms, explaining that this centres on “the importance we place on the partnerships we have with our relationship firms. We want them to be genuine. A genuine connection will always drive more business than pure expertise”.

Such an approach is what allows this collection of individual firms to heed the old proverb “If you want to go fast. Go alone. If you want to go far. Go together.” which inspired the naming of the firm’s pan-African network initiative ‘Go Far Together’. 

Turning to look at some personal insights Alison states that, if she could somehow give advice to her younger self at the start of her career she would simply say “Do what you enjoy and follow your passion”.

To hear the full conversation with a fascinating individual with a genuine commitment to ensuring her international firm’s footprint in Africa is a positive one, tune into your preferred Podcast channel, SoundCloud, Spotify or Apple.

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