Public Law - Uggc Africa

Public ligitation

At UGGC Africa, our expertise in the various fields of public law allows our teams to use a cross-disciplinary approach to public litigation, which is one of their primary areas of activity.

Drawing on the expertise of other teams within the firm, we provide our clients with comprehensive litigation strategies, which could involve bringing legal action before all national and European courts, including constitutional courts (for matters of constitutional justice), and administrative or ordinary courts.

The team has developed a particularly strong track record in three areas:

contract litigation, from the contracting process (pre-contractual interlocutory procedures, actions for annulment against the contract, or claims for damages) to contract performance (settlement of disputes regarding performance, penalties for non-performance, termination of contracts, contractual liability, etc.);

litigation relating to economic regulations (challenges to decisions made by regulatory and regulation authorities);

and liability litigations, from the liability of public persons (contractual liability, economic regulation, damage caused by civil engineering works, etc.), to the liability of private individuals, including the consequences (in terms of compensation) of anti-competitive agreements.

Professional ethics, deontology, compliance, disciplinary litigation, and criminal law

Over many years, UGGC Africa has developed a range of services to handle the criminal law, disciplinary, ethical, and deontological constraints related to the management of public organisations and the relations between private-sector operators and public bodies.

Drawing on their recognised expertise in financial disciplinary law and public criminal law, our lawyers in the Public Business Law department advise public and private clients on the implementation of prudential measures designed to ensure the compliance of their practices and protect their executives and managers (criminal risk audits, drafting of codes of conduct or codes of ethics, etc.).

The team works frequently with legal entities and natural persons, including high-ranking officials subject to disciplinary proceedings (particularly for cases heard at the Court of Budgetary and Financial Discipline (Cour de Discipline Budgétaire et Financière) or who are defendants in criminal proceedings, as well as clients involved in budgetary, financial, and accounting audits.

Public property and Real estate

Our team has built up a highly regarded expertise in public property law.

We are the counsel of choice for private-sector operators and public entities for all operations involving the acquisition and recovery of public property (occupation, assignment, transfer, lease, etc.). We also assist our clients with asset management (including outsourced management).

The team also works regularly with our real estate law and urban planning law teams in order to provide our clients with a comprehensive service handling all aspects of managing and enhancing the value of public real-estate holdings.

It has also developed a highly respected practice specialised in the immaterial property rights of public persons and the opening of public data.

Governance and public sector

UGGC Africa is renowned for its experience in supporting public operators with the management of their major investment and diversification projects, as well as with handling changes in their organisational structure and governance practices, from setting up subsidiaries to outsourcing and pooling services, institutional cooperation, etc.

Our comprehensive support covers every stage of the operation:

assistance in choosing the legal structure of a project (public institutions, corporations, GIP/public interest group, GIE/economic interest consortium, etc.) and contractual arrangements
determining the rules of governance and operating rules for these bodies
preparing legislative and regulatory texts
drafting statutes and defining prudential rules (to avoid criminal risk)
completing legal formalities
setting up contractual arrangements.

Our team uses a multi-disciplinary approach and draws upon the expertise of other practices within the firm (tax law, corporate law, employment law, criminal law, etc.)

Public procurement

Since the firm was founded, UGGC Africa has gained extensive experience in public procurement law (public concessions; procurement procedures; partnership agreements; complex contractual systems). Today this experience is recognised by economic stakeholders throughout Africa, making UGGC Africa one of the country’s top firms in its field.

We offer a full range of services to private-sector corporations and SMEs, civil engineering firms, and public utility operators, including advice on the implementation of business strategies for public-sector clients (especially in the specific context of tendering procedures), assistance with responses to calls to tender, and support for contract management and handling disputes with respect to performance (formalising complaints, negotiating amendments, etc.).

Our Public Business Law department also advises France’s largest national public operators, offering support for the structuring and performance of complex contracts. We advise them on how to secure their contracting and procurement practices and conduct their tendering procedures. We also assist our clients with disputes relating to the performance and renegotiation of all types of public procurement contracts.

Our team has accumulated considerable expertise in contractual litigation relating to the awarding of public contracts (pre-contractual interlocutory procedures, actions for annulment against the contract itself, and claims for damages) and the performance of these contracts. We have developed a strong track record in alternative dispute resolution (transaction; conciliation; mediation; arbitration), especially for complex contracts.

Our litigation practice also handles the criminal and disciplinary law aspects of public procurement (offences of favouritism, illegal acquisitions of interest, etc.).

Economic regulation

UGGC Africa is the counsel of choice for public and private-sector operators, with expertise in highly regulated sectors (ground transportation, telecommunications, energy, health care, gambling, data management, etc.).

Our Public Business Law department has profound knowledge of major sectoral rules and the decision-making practices of regulation authorities, allowing us to provide our clients with comprehensive assistance for expanding their businesses and ensuring that their projects are legally compliant.

Our practice is widely respected for its expertise in commercial litigation, and defends our clients’ interests before sectoral regulators such as ARAFER, national courts, and European authorities.