Baker McKenzie Looks To Revamp Johannesburg Firm

Baker McKenzie has unveiled a new Johannesburg leadership team more than nine months after implementing a ‘three-step plan’ to address management issues at the office.

South Africa head of competition and antitrust Lerisha Naidu will become managing partner of the office from 1 July at the head of a management team that also includes head of employment and compensation Johan Botes and corporate partner Marc Yudaken.

The firm pointed out that Naidu was one of the youngest partners made up at Bakers when she joined the partnership at the age of 32 in 2014 and remains the youngest member of the local management team.

She was also a participant in the firm’s Leaders Investing For Tomorrow (LIFT) programme for high performing women partners.

Her management experience includes being a local member of a transitional leadership team set up by Bakers in the wake of the controversy that blew up last August when it emerged that office managing partner Morné van der Merwe had stepped down and that his duties were being handled by partners from the firm’s Amsterdam office.

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