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082 376 9667

Profile

Samantha is a practicing lawyer in South Africa and a specialist litigator. She is an admitted Advocate and a member of the Johannesburg Bar, she holds chambers at Maisels Chambers. According to Bar Rules, Samantha works on brief from admitted attorneys. Samantha has practiced throughout Southern Africa. Samantha runs a general practice and she is an arbitrator, construction adjudicator and mediator. She obtained accreditation with the Arbitration Foundation South Africa (AFSA) in alternative dispute resolution fields and sits on their commercial panel as an Arbitrator and Mediator. She also sits on the Legal Practice Council (LPC) panel for Mediators and Arbitrators.

Environmental law: Samantha has over 20 years’ experience in this field in conjunction with international diplomas in international environmental law under the auspices of UNITAR and Prof Sands. She has a Masters’ Degree with Distinction in the field of environmental law covering mining, water, property law, municipal law, biodiversity law and general environmental law including environmental impact assessments. Her thesis looked at corporate social responsibility, shareholder activism and sustainability. Samantha has a special interest in the interaction between environmental law, procurement law and insolvency law. This means that Samantha has been briefed on various matters pertaining to major infrastructure and energy projects and the implication thereof on the environment, mine closure and insolvency and the interface between the infrastructure procurement and tender process and the environment. Samantha’s practice in this field has included matters pertaining to environmental authorisations, green crime, wildlife matters, climate change, energy, mining disputes, water and waste. Samantha has appeared in numerous matters relating to the interface between environmental and public health vis-à-vis municipal service delivery. Samantha has also been briefed on upstream and downstream oil and gas projects and she has experience with internal applications for licenses as well as reviews in this specialised field. Samantha also recently completed a carbon tax course with the Sustainability Institute, which considers the financial impact to companies for this proposed form of revenue.

Construction Law: Samantha has substantial litigation experience in the field of construction law. She trained as an adjudicator she has experience with construction adjudications, arbitrations and construction contracts such as the NEC, JBCC and FIDIC. Her litigation experience has included contractual disputes, delay disputes and guarantees. Samantha has also been briefed on construction disputes pertaining to the SIU’s (Special Investigative Unit) investigative powers and allegations of tender irregularities. This field of law is intimately linked with procurement disputes such as tender irregularities. Samantha is able to bring a holistic view on such disputes across various fields of specialisation.

Intellectual property Law: Samantha has experience in litigating before the Companies Tribunal in this field. She also has a Certificate for Advanced Intellectual Property from the Anton Mostert Intellectual Property Law Faculty, University of Stellenbosch covering copyright law, trade mark law, patent and design law. The topics have included protection of software, performer’s protection, ambush marketing, unlawful competition, counterfeiting, trade mark infringement, domain names, pharmaceutical products and traditional knowledge.

Sports Law: Samantha is a member of the South African Sports Law Association and she is completing a Global Master’s Degree from the ISDE in Spain via correspondence. This prestigious Degree has allowed Samantha to be exposed to Sports Law experts across the jurisdictions of Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

I specialise in the following areas of law:

Environmental Law

This vast field includes environmental law from the perspective of the Constitutional environmental right, mining, water, biodiversity, climate change and carbon tax, air quality, animal welfare law and administrative law. Samantha has been briefed on environmental compliance matters involving Directives and green crime, she has appeared in the Water Tribunal and she has handled numerous reviews and interdictory challenges. She was recently briefed to represent amicus representations on recent amendments to the Biodiversity legislation. She has been involved in mining disputes across Africa. She is regularly invited to speak to various industries on topics such as carbon tax and climate change, an area of environmental law which attracts strong views from industry.

Construction Law

Samantha has substantial litigation experience in the field of construction law. She trained as an adjudicator she has experience with construction adjudications, arbitrations and construction contracts such as the NEC, JBCC and FIDIC. Her litigation experience has included contractual disputes, delay disputes and guarantees. Samantha has also been briefed on construction disputes pertaining to the SIU’s (Special Investigative Unit) investigative powers and allegations of tender irregularities.

Procurement Law

The state is the largest consumer of goods and services. In South Africa, the procurement process is highly technical and complex. The procurement arena requires compliance with several pieces of legislation including socio-economic legislations such as Black Economic Empowerment as well local, provincial and national legislation overseeing quality and cost of goods and services. Samantha has extensive knowledge in tender and procurement law, particularly relating to State infrastructure projects and has been briefed on matters pertaining to contractual and tender disputes including reviews.

Constitutional and Administrative Law

Constitutional and Administrative law is a vast and extremely important area of the law. Samantha has been briefed on various administrative challenges including challenges relating to environmental decisions, licenses in the petroleum industry, state regulations such as the COVID regulations and pension fund decisions.

Energy Law

Samantha is regularly briefed by the energy sector either for an objective assessment of compliance and licensing, or in connection with energy related licenses and procurement processes. Samantha is also articulate in the area of the Just Energy Transition – which focusses on the transition of South Africa’s energy sector as the country navigates the shift away from coal towards cleaner sources of energy.

Company Law

Samantha has extensive experience with commercial contracts, shareholder disputes, liquidations and business rescue.

Intellectual Property Law

Samantha has experience in litigating before the Companies Tribunal in this field. She also has a Certificate for Advanced Intellectual Property from the Anton Mostert Intellectual Property Law Faculty, University of Stellenbosch covering copyright law, trade mark law, patent and design law. The topics have included protection of software, performer’s protection, ambush marketing, unlawful competition, counterfeiting, trade mark infringement, domain names, pharmaceutical products and traditional knowledge.

Sport & Entertainment Law

Sports and entertainment law is largely an amalgam of inter-related legal disciplines involving areas such as intellectual property, contract, taxation, employment, competition and criminal law but dedicated legislation and case law has developed and will continue to do so. Samantha is highly specialised in this field.

Arbitration and ADR

Samantha is a qualified arbitrator, construction adjudicator and mediator. Samantha has qualifications in this field which includes dispute resolution processes outside of the court system. There are numerous benefits to this specialised area of litigation. The parties can by agreement, choose their arbitrator or mediator or adjudicator. The process can be substantially quicker than court and the processes are private and confidential.

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