Press Release
Routledge Modise now practising as Eversheds in South Africa
1 July 2009
Effective 1 July 2009 Routledge Modise will be known as Eversheds. The firm joined international law firm Eversheds as its first member on the African continent in April 2008 and started practising as Routledge Modise in association with Eversheds. Now that the association of the two brands has been established, the firm is dropping the local name and moving to the Eversheds brand.
Terry Mahon, chairman of Eversheds in South Africa, who is also on the board of Eversheds International says: “We felt that the time had come to fully integrate into the global brand of Eversheds. The value of being instantly recognisable as being part of Eversheds far outweighs retaining our local brand. During the past 15 months of transition we traded as Routledge Modise in association with Eversheds, so the connection is understood in the marketplace. With more and more international businesses using Eversheds as their preferred legal partner, it makes sense to operate under the same name.”
A strongly debated issue in the decision to adopt the Eversheds name was that “Routledge Modise” would disappear from the firm’s branding identity. Lavery Modise, who had his own legal practice Mlambo Modise, joined the firm in an association structure in 1998, with the firm then taking on his name in 1999, and since then has been practising as Routledge Modise.
“The change to Eversheds reflects again how we adapt to the dynamic environment in which law is practised. We have progressed to being a truly international firm,” says Lavery Modise, deputy chairman of Eversheds, South Africa.
“The change of name and our adoption of the international brand show we truly intend operating as one legal firm,” says Terry Mahon. “Belonging to a global brand will significantly enhance our reputation. Wherever in the world the Eversheds name is marketed, this will naturally benefit us in SA. And for our clients, we continue to have access to an international vault of knowledge and professional services available from the Eversheds international global network. To accommodate the anticipated growth we have appointed Peter van Niekerk, who was previously deputy chairman, to handle practice development.”
Stephen Hopkins, Eversheds Head of International comments: “We have worked with Routledges for many years. Through this we found that their culture, work ethic, and approach to clients and client service matched ours. It was therefore an obvious step for both of us to further strengthen our relationship, which is why they joined Eversheds last year.
“As a consequence we have been able to offer our clients an integrated service across the whole of EMEA, which many (such as Tyco) have embraced and recommended to their peers when they realised that they had found an international organisation that operates seamlessly as one firm.
“Our South African colleagues have helped us develop new skills in areas such as mining and energy. With the connections of our Paris office in French speaking Africa, dovetailing with the connections from South Africa into the rest of Africa, we have been able to offer our clients a pan-African approach that has appealed to clients.
“As we are now happy that we can work together seamlessly and deliver this benefit to our clients, the next natural step is for Routledges to adopt the Eversheds name, so that we can build a brand in Africa to equal that in the rest of EMEA.”