DLA Piper concludes Special Economic Zone Course

© Sandra Cunningham – 123RF.com

The course was made possible by DLA Piper through its non-profit organisation New Perimeter, and was hosted by the University of the Western Cape.

The course is part of Africa's first Masters Degree on international trade and investment law in Africa, a highly selective course run by the University of Pretoria and the University of the Western Cape and taught at each university on alternate years. The LLM is targeted at graduate-level students from across the African continent.

New Perimeter designed the course at the request of the University of Pretoria to expose Africa's future policymakers to the legal, policy and regulatory concepts and practices of special economic zones, as well as providing the students with professional legal and practical skills.

Investment options

The course equips the students with the tools and knowledge to critically review and analyse trade and investment options and policies and to act as future trade and investment policy advisors in their respective countries.

The team from DLA Piper included Claire Donse, New Perimeter programme manager based in the firm's Paris office, Steffen Kaufmann, a partner from Moscow, Kathy Ruhland, a partner based in Minneapolis, Tim Lohse, a partner from Palo Alto, Cézanne Britain, a director at DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyer based in Johannesburg, Brisbane-based partner Stephen Webb and Andrew Chegwidden, the Dubai based head of Knowledge Management for the Middle East.

Johann Koen, legal counsel for Barclays Africa Group/Absa Financial Services contributed via video conference.

"The success of this pro bono legal education course sees us return for a fourth year to provide guidance to the next generation of African policymakers on the legal, policy and regulatory concepts and practices of special economic zones," Claire Donse said. "The programme in South Africa has proven to be an extremely rewarding experience for our lawyers as well as the students who take part in the course and we are thrilled to be playing a part."

University of the Western Cape Dean of Law, Professor Bernard Martin said: "This course is a great opportunity for our students to gain exposure to the practical aspects of international trade law from experienced international practitioners. This provides them with a strong competitive edge when entering the workforce."