Legal System in Côte d’Ivoire: Overview of Bilé-Aka, Brizoua-Bi & Associates

Interview with Maître Michel Brizoua-Bi, Bilé-Aka, Brizoua-Bi & Associates

Can you tell us a bit about the legal system here in Côte d’Ivoire and in the region?

I will put things very simply. We have a legal system that was inherited from the French system; it is a civil law system and the judiciary is independent. We have courts of first instance, courts of appeal and a supreme court. We have a business law organisation where 17 countries share the same business law, and we have supreme courts for business law matters. The headquarters, which also plays the role of an arbitration court, is based in Abidjan. To put it simply we have a civil law system.

What is the advantage to this situation? Does it mean you can treat cases in the same way in these 17 countries?

I believe that it is an advantage because before the birth of this OHADA (Organisation for the Harmonization in Africa of Corporate Law) system, the legal environment was seen as legally unsafe and unstable. The heads of states and the heads of the central banks in the West African states and the Central African states decided to work on a plan to unify the business law in these 17 countries. Initially there were 16 countries and 2 or 3 years ago the DRC joined the OHADA system. For a general council based in London or in New York, who has an investment project in the OHADA zone, this system makes things easy for them to prepare a transaction because they know that in Senegal, in Cameroon and in Côte d’Ivoire for example, the business law is identical. For any investor it is a clean and understandable system.

How are the law firms perceived here? Do international companies use the law firms based here? How good are they?

We can’t hide the fact that in terms of visibility local firms have a lot to do to make themselves visible in the international legal market. In terms of strengths, we will not dare to compare the strengths of the global law firms to those working in our environment but when it comes to knowledge, experience and quality, we can tell you that you have very good firms in francophone Africa.

Is this because of the quality of the lawyers and their training?

More and more we are seeing a shift in terms of practice; initially the interest was more on litigation. I believe that increasingly young lawyers have understood that law is regulating every single activity of African economies and so more and more law students are interested in business law. They are also travelling a lot and studying abroad. This has helped to improve the leverage and the level of skills of business lawyers in Africa. I do not think that at this stage there is a question of competence in the Côte d’Ivoire market.

What are the main challenges that the Côte d’Ivoire legal system is facing?

Many things have been done so far by the current government. One of the achievements that have been praised by us as lawyers and even by private sector operators is the creation of the Commerce Tribunal. The judges are professional and ethical. I think that the way that this court is managed has returned the trust that was missing in the judicial institution. We hope that they will continue to do such a great job and that more and more courts will follow their example. Having said that, the major challenge for the judiciary in Côte d’Ivoire is for us to transform it into a global legal destination. We know that many investors look to London, Paris or Geneva when they have a dispute and what we need to do, including the government, judiciary and lawyers is to work to transform into a global legal place. Then, no investor will be afraid to come and invest in Côte d’Ivoire or in Africa.

The Minister of Telecommunications told us that now cases are more transparent because they have to be published on the internet. Can you tell us more about this?

I don’t think publication is the magic solution to solve the issues and problems with our judiciary. We need a judiciary that is pragmatic and that has performance standards in terms of efficiency and deadlines. We need a judiciary that is more predictable. Unfortunately most investors fear being in a situation where even if they are confident about their chances of success, because they are in Africa they think the outcome may be unpredictable. It is a daily challenge, not only for judges but also for us to make this judicial system more transparent, efficient and predictable.

How do you propose that the system itself should be modernised?

I am not the Minister of Justice! A lot has already been done. Certain texts do need to be reviewed and modernised to adjust to the simple needs of the people on the streets who want to be in a position where if they don’t have many resources they still have their cases heard. They want more access to justice, so that even if they are of minimal means, they can still feel confident that the judiciary system will handle their case in an independent and neutral way. Also, if there are any wrong doings at any level then serious measures need to be adopted. This will give more and more incentives for the judges to do a very good job.

Can you tell us a bit about your firm?

When we started this firm 15 years ago, we realised that our market was very small. We also realised that our potential clients approach the continent on a regional basis. So our aim was to be a very good local firm but with a regional outreach. Little by little we started helping clients doing business in the francophone region and we have partner firms in every single country of the francophone zone. We also work with the anglophone region of the continent and we hope to do more in the years to come.  

Are you going to push more business with anglophile clients?

There is already a lot to do in our country and in the neighbouring countries. We will assess the opportunities. To be humble, in countries like Nigeria and South Africa, they already have very good firms, and we are friends with them and we rely on them when we work with them. So, even if we were very ambitious, it is not our priority to work there, because we are trained as civil law lawyers and I don’t think that we would offer any extra value to any client except for travelling with them to help them in those countries. On the whole, the anglophile and francophone sides are working together more and more and so we are open to all opportunities.

What is your law firms’ philosophy? Can you tell us of some success stories?

It is hard to sum up a history of 15 years but I believe that our major achievement in terms of our philosophy has been to become the preferred firm for many international clients. I remember there was an airline project in Central Africa, and a client told us “look, we know that you are experienced in the airline industry, and your firm has good experience in the civil law system, we want your help to build this regional airline in Central Africa.” For us this was a real achievement and a kind of recognition of our capability to help international clients in francophone Africa and we shall always try to improve every single day. 

In terms of partnerships, are you looking for new partners?

That is a good question because the landscape of the legal industry is changing. You can see for example in Morocco, major international law firms have opened up, needless to mention what has happened in the South African market. I strongly believe that the francophone African legal market is going to be the next destination of attraction. We are still evaluating opportunities for growth. The legacy that we would like to leave for the future partners of this firm and for young lawyers is the opportunity for them to become international lawyers based in Côte d’Ivoire. I hope that we will be able to achieve this in the years to come.

What message would you give to the potential workforce who could come and join you?

I think that the message for the private sector and for investors, who are targeting Africa, is that every week there is a major business event in the world about Africa, and this shows that something is happening in Africa. Nothing is going to be done without good chartered accountants, auditors, strategic experts and lawyers. So the future of the legal profession for us is bright. Whoever has the ambition to be working on the global scene must look at Africa and must look at Côte d’Ivoire.

What is your vision for the coming years?

Our vision is to become the preferred firm for projects in francophone Africa and in Côte d’Ivoire. We want to be able to give quality advice to whoever plans on investing in Africa.

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