With an existing base in Johannesburg, the new office will be White & Case’s second in Africa and will also support the firm’s offices in Riyadh, Dubai and Doha. It is due to be running by October and will be led by White & Case partner Philip Stopford, who will divide his time between London and Cairo.

Broadening its practice

White & Case has been advising clients in Egypt, mainly corporate and investment banking clients, for more than 15 years. The Cairo offering is intended to enable the firm to broaden its legal practice and better support clients on high end work including project finance, private equity, corporate/M&A and debt and equity capital markets.

MHR partners

MHR's partners will be Tarek Mohanna, Said Hanafi, Waleed El Daly and Sherief Rashed. Said joins from Orascom Development Holdings, where he was general counsel, and Waleed from Zaki Hashem & Partners, where he was a partner. Tarek and Sherief will relocate to Cairo from White & Case offices in London and Abu Dhabi respectively.