Insights into Law: Articles, Analysis, and Legal Perspectives

Something has shifted. You can feel it in the way people drive, the way they queue, the way they approach a negotiation. The default assumption has quietly changed: people are not trusted until proven trustworthy. Kindness is met with suspicion. Generosity is read as weakness. We have become, in many respects, a society that expects the worst from one another — and then wonders why it so often gets it. This is not a new observation. But it is an increasingly urgent one. Ubunt

For close to two years the profession has been having the same uncomfortable conversation about artificial intelligence, and it has always had the same shape in that a practitioner under deadline pressure asks an AI tool for authority; the tool obligingly invents a case; the fiction survives into heads of argument; a judge notices. Mavundla and Northbound Processing are the known examples. In each, the court was the party that caught the error. A full court of the Gauteng

On 28 July 2026, an earthquake measuring magnitude 7.1 struck Kumamoto Prefecture in southern Japan. The tremor, which the Japan Meteorological Agency has officially named the 2026 Kumamoto earthquake, forced roughly 300 000 residents to evacuate to shelters. A shopping mall partially collapsed, reportedly followed by an explosion believed to be caused by a gas leak, and rescue teams worked through the night searching for survivors. By the following morning, Japanese authorit

Picture this: your HR team uses AI to shortlist candidates, your accounts team leans on it to review financial information, and the person at the next desk uses it to draft a contract clause or pull together research for a report, without noticing the mistake buried inside or a client chats to your AI-powered support bot, gets the wrong advice and acts on it. Who carries the blame? It's a question more South African professionals and businesses are being forced to ask in 2026

If you are reading this over breakfast, you are probably less than an hour from your first robot. It is worth knowing, before you pull out of the driveway, that the law waiting at that intersection changed more this month than it has in a generation - and that the part everyone fears, the demerit points, is the one part that has not started yet. What happened on 1 July After a quarter-century of false starts, the national rollout of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Tra

A guide to the August 2026 board exams The board exams are set for 5 and 6 August 2026, and with them comes the familiar mix of pressure, preparation, and not nearly enough hours in the day. Having written boards myself, I wanted to share some of what I've learned — what worked, what didn't, and what I'd do differently. This follows on from the pieces I wrote last year on lessons learned as a candidate attorney, but this time the focus is squarely on exam strategy. Here's a p

Bafana gave us our best World Cup in 16 years. It also gave criminals their best season in years. While the country was glued to Bafana Bafana's historic run - a first knockout appearance since 2010, ended by a cruel 92nd-minute Canada winner in the round of 32, two quieter contests were playing out behind the football: a global fight against illegal streaming, and a local one against illegal, unregulated betting. Both carry real legal consequences. And increasingly, not jus

The contract has always been law's most practical instrument. For centuries its architecture has remained unchanged: offer, acceptance, the intention to be bound. What is changing rapidly is the medium. Smart contracts are already active in South African financial markets, insurance products, and trade finance. They perform without intermediaries, settle without delay, and, critically, execute whether or not the parties are ready for the legal consequences. Our law has not ke

Imagine sitting around the dinner table on a Sunday afternoon when the conversation shifts from casual catch-ups to a pressing worry. A cousin’s small business is facing an unfair contractual dispute, a sibling is struggling with a landlord over a lease agreement, or a parent is feeling overwhelmed by an administrative hurdle. When the stress in the room rises, all eyes inevitably turn to one person: the relative who happens to be a lawyer. It is an incredibly natural instinc

I am not an attorney. I do not argue in court, interpret legislation, or draft pleadings, and I am certainly not in a position to comment on or write about legal principles, governance, or regulatory matters. Having spent a lifetime working within a law firm, I have observed a reality that most people only come to recognize when it’s already too late. Most legal matters do not begin as legal matters. They begin as everyday decisions - small, ordinary moments that do not feel

A significant legal challenge is currently before the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria, concerning the validity and implementation of South Africa’s Legal Sector Code introduced under the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (“B-BBEE”) framework. The matter was brought by several of South Africa’s largest commercial law firms — including Deneys (formerly Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa), Bowmans, Werksmans and Webber Wentzel — against the Minister of Trade, I

If you have ever opened a bank account, instructed an attorney, or signed up with an estate agent and been asked for copies of your ID, proof of address, or details about the source of your funds — you may have wondered whether that business is entitled to ask for all of that. The short answer is yes. But there are rules about how much they can ask for, what they can do with it, and how long they can keep it. Two laws working side by side South Africa has two major pieces of

A judgment handed down in the Gauteng High Court last week has sent ripples through the South African legal profession. In a ruling that many newly admitted attorneys have long awaited, Judge Norman Davis declared unconstitutional the three-year waiting period that prevented attorneys from appearing in the country’s superior courts immediately upon admission. It is a landmark moment for the profession — and a case that reveals important truths about equality, rationality

Administrative and statutory compliance in South Africa refers to the legal, regulatory, and procedural obligations that businesses must meet to operate lawfully. For legal practitioners, the core tension in compliance is that it is simultaneously a precondition for practice and, at times, a significant operational burden—particularly for smaller firms. Importance of Maintaining Compliance For legal practitioners, maintaining compliance is first and foremost a practice surviv

Every day, businesses across South Africa sign contracts, guarantee agreements, and suretyships with a few clicks - confident that a digital signature is binding. Often, it isn't. This is one of the most consequential and least understood gaps in South African commercial practice, and it is costing businesses dearly. What Counts as a Signature? South African law has always recognized that a "signature" need not be a handwritten mark. A signature serves three functions: it ide

Recent court developments concerning Julius Malema raise a question that is larger than one politician. In October 2025 he was convicted on five firearm-related charges arising from the 2018 Mdantsane rally. He has since been sentenced to five years’ direct imprisonment, additional penalties were ordered to run concurrently, he has been declared unfit to possess a firearm, the court granted leave to appeal his sentence, refused leave to appeal his conviction, and he remains

For most people, the criminal justice system is something they only see from a distance. It is spoken about in headlines, whispered about in police stations, and dramatized in television shows. But when a real criminal case lands on your doorstep, whether it involves you, a family member, or someone close to you, the legal system can suddenly feel confusing, cold and overwhelming. People hear words like Schedule 1, bail, State case, diversion, reps and plea agreement, bu

For a long time, South African investment managers operated in what felt like a predictable legal landscape. Stick to the mandate, get the disclosures right, deliver defensible performance, and the risk stayed largely in check. That sense of stability is starting to crack, and it is happening faster than many expected. A clear shift is underway. Investment managers are no longer judged only on what they invest in, but on how they explain, support, and stand behind those

The global automotive industry is charging headfirst into the Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution, marketing it as the ultimate green solution to combat climate change. On the surface, the appeal is undeniable: zero tailpipe emissions and a sleek, silent drive. However, when we evaluate EVs through the lens of South African environmental law, our current infrastructural realities, and the global supply chain, a much more complex and somewhat paradoxical picture emerges. Co

Over recent days, the pavement outside the CCMA offices at the corner of Fox and Joubert Streets in Johannesburg, ordinarily a space associated with conciliation and compromise, was transformed into a crime scene. A labour law practitioner, reportedly present to engage in dispute resolution proceedings, was killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack. The symbolism is difficult to ignore as a forum designed to replace conflict with dialogue became the setting for its most