BECOMING A TRUSTED ADVISOR: Bluebell Legal—a midsized law firm built on integrity

Rarely do law firms front standards and integrity as a core strength but for Bluebell Legal, standards and integrity form a vital fibre of the firm’s corporate purpose. 

“We work towards providing all our clients with a convenient and efficient legal service. We target midsize entities that appreciate the importance of having sound legal structures” explains Isaac Ssali Mugerwa, the firm’s Managing Partner.  

“With Bluebell Legal, you have more than a legal advisor. You have a business advisor, a confidant, and a counsellor. When your client’s life and/or business is practically in your hands, having strict standards in place is a must,” he adds.

“Corporate governance is essentially the system of rules, practices, and processes by which organisations are directed and controlled. It involves factoring in all stakeholder interests― shareholders and investors, employees, customers, financiers, government, the community etc, and sometimes across various jurisdictions. Our vision as a firm is “Eliminating all legal apprehensions for our clients”.  Legal risk management and compliance are therefore key in our service delivery and this has ultimately helped us to continue delivering value to all stakeholders,” reiterates Mugerwa.  

Bluebell Legal was founded in 2008 under the name Kaddu & Partners Advocates. Although only 13 years old, its senior lawyers possess over 44 years of combined legal experience. 

The firm, last December 2021 changed its name to “Bluebell Legal” to reflect its corporate purpose and value system.

“In the world of plants and flowers, bluebell flowers symbolize faithfulness and dependability as well as gratitude and humility. We adopted that name, as a living reminder to our clients and team every day of who we are and what we stand for,” explains Stephen Lubowa Mwanje, a Senior Partner & Co-Founder of the firm. 

Experienced and knowledgeable team

Over and above strict standards and integrity ethos, Mwanje put this down to experienced hands-on management of the firm.

Mugerwa, the firm’s Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Bluebell Legal is a Corporate and Commercial Lawyer and Co-Founder of Bluebell Legal. He is a popular lawyer within the expatriate community. He is esteemed as “Avocat Conseil” (Legal Counsel) to the French Embassy in Uganda and has recently been appointed as Special Legal Counsel to the Dutch Embassy in Uganda. His expertise, among others, includes corporate and commercial law, corporate legal risk management, fintech law, venture capital, and employment law. He is a tax law specialist, with a major focus on transactional tax planning, transfer pricing, tax controversy & disputes. He is a certified Insolvency Practitioner.

Mugerwa is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda, a notary public and a commissioner for oaths. He also holds an MBA (Finance) from Coventry University (UK) and a Certificate of Competence in Regulatory Framework, Reporting & Policy Compliance for Commercial Banks (Merit Grade) from the Uganda Institute of Banking & Financial Services. He is also currently pursuing certification at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK (CIArb). 

Stephen Lubowa Mwanje is a Senior Partner and co-founder at Bluebell Legal. He is a specialist in Energy law & Natural resources. He has hands-on experience in Corporate & Commercial law and possesses considerable civil and commercial litigation experience and alternative dispute resolution for high-net-worth clients at both trial and appellate levels across vast practice areas. He has handled a number of cases as external counsel for National Water & Sewerage Corporation for over 10 years and has an impeccable record.

His core competence lies in his ability to add value to clients engaged in cross-border transactions.

Over and above his legal practice qualification, he is a commissioner for oaths and holds an MBA (International Business) from Coventry University (UK). He is a member of the Uganda Law Society and the East African Law Society

Recently, the firm admitted a silent Partner, Dorothy Masifa Ochola. Dorothy is a corporate governance professional, banking and financial services lawyer and IFC-certified governance trainer. Although not actively involved in the firm’s day-to-day operations, she actively consults for the firm on a range of corporate governance matters.  

She wields extensive years of leadership and governance experience spanning the legal, financial sector, and corporate governance in multinational conglomerates and local and multilateral development finance institutions. She also has had extensive legal, compliance, investor relations, government and public policy experience and training over her East-Africa-wide career. 

Her executive management and board experience include such roles as Manager, Board & AGM Management (African Export-Import Bank), Head of Legal & Company Secretary (Standard Chartered Bank & Uganda Development Bank), Legal Manager (Stanbic Bank Uganda) and Legal counsel in M/s Katende, Ssempebwa & Co. Advocates.

Dorothy has supported the execution of corporate strategies and the embedding of effective corporate governance practices. She sits on various boards, including a development finance corporation and a non-governmental organisation. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree, and a Master’s in Commercial Law from the University of Cambridge. She is an Advocate of the High Court Uganda and East Africa, and a Chartered Secretary.  

Supporting the leadership team is a dedicated team of lawyers- headed by Joram Sebuliba, a tax law specialist, Real Estate, Employment and Litigation practitioner. The other lawyers include Claire Jean Kahunde (A lecturer at the Law Development Centre-commercial Law Practice), Proscovia Namirembe Gukiina (FINTECH Law expert), Diana Banduru (litigation), Wilberforce Kazibwe (Employment Law), Isabella Sunday Owori (Intellectual Property Lawyer) and Taremwa Samuel (Corporate Governance) to mention but a few.

Boutique Law Firm of the Year

The firm’s experience cuts across a variety of practices, namely taxation, corporate governance, corporate immigration, intellectual property, banking & finance, energy law & natural resources, fintech advisory, startup & venture capital as well as dispute resolution & litigation. Other practices include property & development, white-collar crime & investigation, agriculture & food law, insurance law, family law, educational institutions and construction.

For international clients and or clients with needs that stretch across Ugandan borders, Bluebell Legal is able to service them through the MSI Global Alliance―a coalition of over 250 independent legal & accounting member firms in over 100 countries.

Bluebell Legal is also a member of the Club d’affaires de Kampala, a business club that brings together French, Francophone and Ugandan companies in Uganda. The firm is also a member of the Netherlands Uganda Trade and Investment Platform (NUTIP), a Ugandan association that harnesses the economic power of cooperation between Dutch and Ugandan entrepreneurs.

In the words of William Shakespeare “Good counsellors lack no clients” and indeed Bluebell Legal has been trusted by a variety of public, private and not-for-profit clients, who among others include National Water & Sewage Corporation, DHL Global Forwarding (U) Limited, China Construction & Communication Company Ltd (CCCC), United Bank for Africa, KCB Bank and dfcu Bank. Other notable clients, include Housing Finance Bank, Finance Trust Bank, Nile Energy Limited, and Colas East Africa Limited. Through the firm’s Managing Partner, Mr Isaac Ssali Mugerwa the firm serves the French Embassy and the Dutch Embassy in Uganda. 

To make dependable, cost-efficient, timely and responsive legal services available to especially startups and SMEs, the firm has evolved a retainer programme that enables them to manage legal and compliance risks at a lower per-project cost.  

“The Bluebell retainer programme is scoped in a way that allows clients to predictably enjoy routine services at friendly and usually once-off corporate rates as well as benefit from value-adds such as annual legal audits. Legal audits are very vital as they guard against exposure to avoidable adverse legal risks,” explains Mugerwa. 

Bluebell Legal was in 2021, nominated as the “Boutique law firm of the year 2021”, in the Uganda Law Society Awards, for its “continuous commitment to Legal excellence, integrity and honesty, reliability, trustworthiness, transparency, fairness, Probono, Professional Development as well as commitment to contribute to the attainment of Uganda Vision 2040 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)”

In 2018, the firm was also listed among the Top 25 Law Firms in Uganda by CEO East Africa Magazine, Uganda’s leading business news publication.