KATS - Katende, Ssempebwa & Co Advocates

Aviation

The Aviation industry, like many others, is constantly evolving, in response to economic pressures, global pandemics, technological breakthroughs, increased competition, political uncertainty and more.

Our Firm has the largest aviation practice in the country with the largest number of international and regional airlines on our client roster. We offer thorough industry knowledge and extensive experience.

We advise on issues covering every segment of this industry. Our team handles a considerable amount of aviation and aviation related work ranging from:

• litigation and alternative dispute resolution;
• aircraft purchases;
• sales;
• leasing and financing;
• aircraft certification and registration;
• aviation claims;
• personal injuries;
• aircraft accident and incident investigations;
• aircraft maintenance and airworthiness issues;
• regulatory and enforcement matters;
• securities offerings;
• tax policies;
• competition;
• unmanned aircraft systems (drones);
• insurance coverage and risk management;
• international trade and licensing;
• cargo and baggage claims;
• Mergers & Acquisitions;
• environmental issues;
• airline alliances and joint ventures.

Both our Senior Partners have been Board Members of Uganda’s Civil Aviation Authority.

Banking & Finance

We understand your banking and financing needs and work to help you meet and exceed your targets.

We have one of the largest banking practices in Uganda representing several leading international, regional and local banks. We have acted as counsel for numerous foreign and local investors, foreign donor agencies and government bodies seeking to underwrite major loans and transactions within the region and have performed due diligence exercises and monitoring of the projects that have been underwritten. We have also developed a niche specializing in all matters relating to e-commerce and e-banking.

Corporate & Commercial

The practice encompasses the full range of legal services required by corporations and other business entities. We advise multinational corporations and assist them in the establishment, registration and restructuring of foreign investment enterprises locally. We handle matters relating to equity and contractual joint ventures, wholly owned foreign enterprises and holding companies, financial and management agreements, shareholders agreements and all contractual matters relevant to the operations of our clients businesses locally and internationally.

Our team also advises clients on all the relevant corporate governance structures including designing and implementing compliance programs to discover and deter both inadvertent and purposeful failures to heed laws and regulations. In industries such as Banking & Finance, our Firm has extensive experience in integrating Corporate Governance and Securities Law compliance with other regulatory structures and operational requirements.

One of our Senior Partners’ Mr. John W. Katende is a leading authority on company law matters in Uganda and is the author of, among other publications, ‘The Law of Business Associations in East and Central Africa‘ which is one of the leading texts in all the law schools in East and Central Africa.

Employment & Private Investigations

We know that one of your most important relationships are those with your employers and employees.

Our Employment team advises on the full spectrum of employment issues and laws.

KATS advises corporate and individual clients (both domestic and foreign) on employment contracts, policies and procedures, handling redundancies and relations with trade unions, remuneration and incentive systems, pension funds and social security audits, expatriation.

We are adept at preparing and reviewing employment contracts, such as non disclosure, non-compete and confidentiality agreements, and advising on their enforceability. We offer counsel on legal issues running the gamut from recruitments to terminations, enforcement of post-termination obligations by former employees, non-competition covenants, protection of intellectual property, conducting investigations, compensation disputes.

We represent our clients in suits for discrimination and harassment claims, wrongful termination, worker’s compensation in the event of personal injuries sustained by worker’s during the course of employment, trade secret theft.

The Firm has done a lot of work including arbitration and actions relating to employee benefits and managerial compensation, primarily on behalf of large corporate bodies and has succeeded in concluding some of the largest class action employment suits in East Africa.

Sample Transactions

• Represented and secured a settlement for former employees of the East African Community valued at over USD 45 Million
• Represented and secured a settlement for former employees of East African Airways valued at over USD 18.5 Million
• Represented and secured settlements for former employees of Uganda Airlines.
• Represented and secured a settlement on behalf of Bank of Uganda (the Central Bank) regarding claims brought by former Bank employees worth over USD 8 Million.
• Represented, reviewed and prepared employee handbooks and manuals for numerous clients including but not limited to Warid Telecom, American Tower Corporation, Uganda Red Cross, Uganda Virus Research Institute, International Hospital Kampala, Kinyara Sugar Works.
• Represented Kinyara Sugar Works; Uganda’s largest sugar producer, in negotiations with workers and out growers, and secured a settlement of employee disputes which prevented potential strike action.
• Represented Mcleod Russell Uganda, the Ugandan arm of the world’s largest tea producer, in all its negotiations with its employees and out growers which averted a potential strike and secured a settlement.
• Represents Uganda Red Cross in various employee disputes regarding various officials in various branches across the country
• Represented and secured settlement on behalf of Africa One Airlines and Dairo Air Services with all former employees
• Participated in reviewing and drafting various legislation involving health and safety standards in the work place in Uganda including the Worker’s Compensation Act,the Employment Act 2006
• Prepared review of relevant legislation, safety handbooks, conducted training seminars for management and staff on legislation for various clients in the manufacturing sector including but not limited to Mcleod Russell, Kinyara Sugar Works, Nilefos Minerals, National Agricultural Research Association (NARO).

Property / Real Estate

KATS executes a tremendous amount of conveyancing work which is one of its largest areas of practice.

We specialize in all kinds of land transactions including but not limited to; mortgages, charges, purchases, sales, leases, expropriated properties, transfers and all manner of litigation attendant thereto.

We also advise foreign and local institutional investors, property developers, and surveyors and do a lot of due diligence work regarding development projects in Uganda.

We also act routinely for construction corporations, and we have acted as property and estate managers for landlords based locally and abroad.

Sample transactions

• We are the sole external counsel for the  Buganda Land Board, the largest land owner in Uganda after the Central Government. We have handled all their land and compensation matters for the last 25 years.
• Advised on the acquisition of land required to construct over 500 BTS site masts for a telecom client in less than six months dealing with over seven hundred fifty (750) different landlords.
• Advised the world’s largest tower operartor on the acquisition of land for over 1000 BTS a process involving dealing with over nine hundred (900) different land lords.
• Handled all land compensation disputes during the consruction of telecom masts by Huawei Technology Limited for and on behalf of major telecom companies in Uganda.
• Advised Spring Hills Ltd on its multi-million dollar real estate development projects and created the template followed on most major housing developments in the country.