There are murmurings that Africa’s pandemic is set to get worse in 2021, with numbers of coronavirus cases soaring in such international hubs as South Africa and Nigeria, and with the more contagious variant of the virus finding its way to the continent.

So the continent’s new year lurches into a climate of uncertainty that is perhaps even greater than that which clouded 2020. But its lawyers are working hard to make the necessary preparations, both for their clients and for themselves.