Our firm is a multi-disciplinary law firm, but our main practice areas remain Corporate and Commercial law, both locally and on an international basis. We are very much involved in cross border commercial advisory work, advice on the best structure to set up in Mauritius taking into consideration the various mutual agreements between Mauritius and other countries in the world. We distinguish ourselves mainly because of the fact we are present, via our network and other affiliations, in many countries of the world. We are part of the Nolands network in South Africa, AEA Network and Justinian Lawyers around the world. In the preparation of advice, we can have guidance from our colleagues in different countries for parts relating to those countries.

Our current workflow system is very simple. Any request for any advice and assignment comes directly to me and I distribute the workload. For all assignments, we set a timeline and all the assignments are personally reviewed by me before we issue same to the clients. Most of the issues surrounding commercial law disputes revolves around contract violations and non-payments. Our most recent case study was a contract between two entities. Our client has signed a contract which contained a clause preventing any litigation of whatsoever nature. We are arguing that this clause shall be null and void, and that it violates the basic right of seeking remedy before the Court.

Currently we are advising a Foreign State-owned company, operating in Mauritius, on the issue of damages in contract, how to enforce guarantee and pledges as well as enforcing judgments obtained in foreign jurisdictions in Mauritius.

Post the Covid 19 pandemic, we did not have important changes in the legislations which impacted on the aspects of commercial law. However, in terms of other business-like processing of work permit applications and other applications have become digital and relatively quicker.

When adapting to technological change, we have found that sometimes staff already in employment are reluctant to change. They want to continue in the old fashioned way which is being phased out rapidly. However, when we recruit younger staff, more conversant with the use of technology, they lack the knowledge to complete the assignment effectively.

For the time being, the only way to assist companies to overcome these challenges is training.

The sectors which are more at risk are the ones that are being digitised rapidly, like virtual assets, dealers/brokers business and banks. At the bank level, however, they invest massively in technology to prevent any cyber-attack. From our side, being a legal firm, we help firms in putting in place cyber security manuals for them to be compliant with all the legislations.

Over the past years, Mauritius has laid much emphasis and focus on environmental, social and governance issues. Laws have been amended on the environment side and have become more rigid and strict in terms of non-compliance. Companies are now required to pay a small amount of their profit for Corporate Social Governance. Our firm assists in preparing manuals and providing advice to companies on these legislations, how to apply them and the effects and consequences of their non-compliance.

We have a team dedicated to review the changes in the legislations as and when they happen. All the guidelines which are issued by the authorities are captured by our review. So basically, we are very much up to date with all the changes in the legislations. We are very much active in international networking events as we are also affiliated with different networking groups, and we have regular virtual working sessions. Newsletters and articles are shared on a regular basis.

For the time being there are no changes in legislation pertaining to commercial law on the horizon in Mauritius. Our laws of contract are French based and if there will be some major changes, it will be reviewed and our laws will be amended accordingly.