Bertrand Montembault

Bertrand has 30 years of experience helping clients on various aspects of their operations and projects in Francophone Africa, mainly in the energy and natural resources sectors. He lived and worked in Gabon for two years prior to joining the firm and has an excellent knowledge of Francophone Africa's local and regional legal and regulatory systems, including OHADA and CEMAC, and a strong network of local contacts.

Bertrand was ranked in 11th position of Jeune Afrique's Top 100 Legal Powerlist of the most influential lawyers in French-speaking Africa in 2021. He is also recognised as a leading lawyer for Africa-wide Projects and Energy and Africa-wide Corporate/Commercial: OHADA Specialists by Chambers Global 2022, which quotes a client as saying that "It was an outstanding experience working with Bertrand: he brought a balanced approach which proved to be very successful in a negotiation". Bertrand is also ranked by Chambers Global for Gabon General Business Law (Expertise Based Abroad).

Bertrand is based in Paris but has also worked in South Africa – spending two years in our Johannesburg office in 2016-2018 – and Gabon, where he was based for over two years in the early part of his career when he worked in the Libreville office of a leading global tax and audit company.

Bertrand is a member of the Association of International Energy Negotiators and AFDEN (French Association for Energy Law), and a former honorary associate of the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at Dundee University. He also lectures regularly at various universities and schools.

He is a native French speaker and speaks English fluently.

Background

Bertrand obtained a Maîtrise in Private Law from the University of Rennes-I (France) in 1990; a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Law (DJCE-DESS) from the University of Rennes-I (France) in 1992; and an LLM in International Business Legal Studies from the University of Exeter in 1991. He was admitted to the Paris Bar in 1992.