ENSafrica houses the largest team of environmental lawyers in Africa. We work at the dynamic nexus of the environment, sustainability and commerce, and we thrive in creating innovative environmental legal solutions to suit the needs of your business.

Our key differentiator is that our dedicated environment team has the capacity to undertake a multifaceted array of environmental and regulatory compliance work across the entire African continent, where legislation and regulation are becoming increasingly stringent.

Environmental and sustainability issues impact on industrial and business strategies, and environmental concerns are now recognised to be on par with financial concerns.

As a result, we often participate in project development teams which cut across law, policy and commerce.

Over 200 years experience Over 600 practitioners 12 offices in 7 countries

We also assist local and international companies with the full spectrum of legal and strategic issues relating to the environment nationally and regionally, including cross-border due diligence, contractual negotiations and transactional advice.

We have the unique advantage, as part of Africa’s largest law firm, of being able to harness the expertise of more than 600 practitioners throughout the continent. ENSafrica has a significant breadth and depth of experience and specialist expertise that spans all commercial areas of law, tax, forensics and IP.

As such, we regularly partner with specialists across the firm, meaning that we are able to assist with all aspects of all matters across all sectors in all African jurisdictions, ensuring that your legal requirements are handled quickly and seamlessly.

sources are quick to praise the team for delivering exceptional services
Chambers Global

what we offer

  • agribusiness and forestry
  • biodiversity and eco-tourism
  • climate change and carbon markets
  • compliance management and corporate governance
  • environmental dispute resolution and litigation
  • environmental law skills development
  • land use planning
  • minerals and mining
  • nuclear legal considerations
  • projects and products lifecycle
  • renewable energy projects
  • sustainable ocean management
  • transactional support
  • waste management
  • water law
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maintains a stellar reputation for its work in the mining sector, acting for clients on a range of contentious and non-contentious matters
Chambers Global
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representative instructions include advising on conflicting mining rights and environmental contamination, as well as ably assisting companies with approvals for operational expansion and set-up
Chambers Global
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knowledgeable on the government’s independent power producer programme, water management and resource protection
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experiENS

Water laws assessment
Water laws comparative assessment for Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe on behalf of an African inter-governmental commission and an international finance institution.
Climate change legislation
Climate change legislation in South Africa by our participation in the inter-departmental team responsible for the drafting of climate change legislation and our continued advising on climate and carbon-related matters.
Water legislation
Water legislation for South Africa, including the National Water Act and the Water Services Act, by our participation in the inter-departmental team responsible for the drafting of the existing water-related laws in South Africa and our continued advising on water-related matters, including expropriation of water resources.
Renewable energy
Renewable energy by virtue of our advising the responsible government department on the implementation of the Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme in South Africa, as well as private project companies in respect of their regulatory obligations.
Lobbying of Government
Lobbying of the South African Government on behalf of financial sector participants regarding lender liability under the National Environmental Management Waste Act 59 of 2008.
Peaking power and nuclear
Peaking power and nuclear projects constructed and operated by multinational utility and technology companies.
Mediation
Mediation of a contractual dispute between a government department and a private company in respect of the provision of waste management services.
Acid mine litigation
Litigation possibly facing a major gold mining company relating to the management and treatment of acid mine drainage from historical mining operations.
Criminal defence
Criminal defence of a major industrial client and some of its directors in their personal capacity following the South African National Prosecuting Authority’s criminal charges for alleged statutory contraventions.
Interdicts for industrial clients
Interdicts obtained on behalf of industrial clients against government and civil society interest groups to enable our clients to continue to operate amidst incessant attacks.
they are very resourceful and their turnaround times are excellent
Chambers Global

contact

expertise

expertise

African regulatory and business intelligence
agribusiness
Asia
aviation
banking and finance
Broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE)
competition/antitrust
corporate commercial
dispute resolution
employment
environment
fiduciary
fintech
forensics
immigration
India
insolvency, business rescue and debt recovery
insurance
intellectual property (IP)
intelligENS
mine and occupational health and safety
mining
private clients
private equity
pro bono and corporate social investment
project development and project finance
real estate / property
shipping, ports and logistics
tax
technology, media and telecommunications