{"id":868155,"date":"2026-07-30T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=868155"},"modified":"2026-07-30T15:56:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:56:56","slug":"end-of-an-era-for-158-year-old-law-firm-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/868155\/end-of-an-era-for-158-year-old-law-firm-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"End of an era for 158-year-old law firm in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Webber Wentzel and global law firm Linklaters have announced the end of their formal alliance, marking the end of a 13-year relationship between South Africa’s oldest legal firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firms said their formal alliance will end on 1 November 2026 after jointly agreeing that the African legal market has evolved significantly since they first partnered in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webber Wentzel began in 1868, when attorneys Edward Solomon and Thomas Thomson established a legal practice in Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1888 prompted the pair to relocate to Johannesburg, where they joined Charles Wentzel and Frank Dumat to establish the mining-focused firm, Solomon Hull Webber & Wentzel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the decades, the practice underwent numerous changes as partners joined and departed. In 1994, it merged with Bowen, Sessel & Goudvis to become Webber Wentzel Bowens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, it merged with Cape Town-based Mallinicks to form the modern Webber Wentzel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 1 February 2013, Webber Wentzel entered into a formal alliance with Linklaters, one of the world’s leading international law firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership gave Webber Wentzel access to a broader international network while allowing it to provide clients with global legal expertise alongside its established African presence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the firm offers legal and tax services across the continent and has advised on many of Africa’s most significant commercial transactions and disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Announcing the change, Webber Wentzel said the legal landscape has changed substantially since the alliance began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Since the alliance was established in 2013, Africa’s legal and commercial landscape has changed significantly,” the firm said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our clients now operate across increasingly sophisticated and interconnected markets, and we have grown alongside our clients on the continent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firms said they have therefore agreed to return to the more informal relationship that existed before the alliance was established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This reflects the natural progression of our respective strategies and the changing dynamics of the African legal market over the past 13 years,” Webber Wentzel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the end of the alliance means for Webber Wentzel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although the formal alliance is ending, the firms stressed that they will continue collaborating on cross-border legal matters whenever it is in their clients’ best interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move does not represent a reduction in Webber Wentzel’s operations or its presence in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest change is in how the firm manages international relationships. Under the formal alliance, outbound international work was closely linked to Linklaters, while Linklaters generally referred South African work to Webber Wentzel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From November, Webber Wentzel will be free to receive referrals from a wider range of international law firms, including firms that compete directly with Linklaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will also be able to recommend whichever international firm is best suited to a client’s needs, rather than relying on an exclusive alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firm will effectively return to a non-exclusive referral model, similar to the approach adopted by several other leading South African law firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move will also mean the firm will independently fund areas such as technology investments and specialised global training programmes that previously benefited from collaboration under the formal alliance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Webber Wentzel and global law firm Linklaters have announced the end of their formal alliance, marking the end of a 13-year relationship between South Africa’s oldest legal firms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":859451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2082828819065454662","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2161757674644632","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[853,9455],"class_list":["post-868155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-south-africa","tag-webber-wentzel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868210,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868155\/revisions\/868210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}