Baker McKenzie has appointed a new chair of its Africa steering committee, as the firm’s former Johannesburg managing partner, who left in acrimonious circumstances, sets up his own law firm with a group of other senior leavers.

It comes in the aftermath of a bullying scandal surrounding the firm’s ex-Johannesburg managing partner, Morne van der Merwe, which led to a number of key exits in the latter part of 2021.