New PerimeterWorldwide Pro Bono Initiative

African Millennium Cities Project

Working with the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New Perimeter’s new project, the African Millennium Cities Project, is focusing on the legal/regulatory and practical impediments to foreign direct investment (FDI) in two identified cities in Africa. DLA Piper is one of three law firms involved (the others being Cravath Swaine & Moore and Carter Ledyard & Milburn) and is responsible for two of the six cities that the Earth Institute has decided to focus on - Blantyre, Malawi and Kumasi, Ghana.

The specific tasks in the first phase of the project include analysis of the investment regulatory framework as it is on the books and as it works in reality, including relevant provincial and municipal variations, and identification of options and recommendations for improvements. The goal of the project is to produce for each of the selected cities a "white paper" for the benefit of government officials and potential investors. Subsequent phases of the project will include an on-going role with rendering legal advice and developing opportunities to increase foreign direct investment in Africa.


DLA Piper associate Bob Barton; Matthews Chikaonda, CEO of Press Holdings, Malawi's most important publicly traded corporation; and project leader and DLA Piper partner, David Reifman.


Business district, Blantyre, Malawi


Blantyre municipal officials and
DLA Piper attorneys


View of Blantyre, Malawi


Main road of the Ndirande Settlement, Blantyre, Malawi 


View of area surrounding Blantyre


Garbage accumulation, Ndirande