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Bowman Gilfillan is one of the premier corporate law firms in South Africa with offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The firm has an association with Coulson Harney in Kenya and a relationship with Udo Udoma and Belo Osagie in Nigeria. Employing more than 300 specialised lawyers (including over 120 partners), the firm is widely recognised for its professionalism and superior legal services.
Given Bowman Gilfillan's vast national and global network, coupled with the firm's ethos of knowledge sharing, we are able to offer our clients pioneering solutions that can resolve their challenges in an expedient and intelligent way.
Our Litigation group is able to offer our clients solutions in all areas of the law, but most notably in the following:
Our attorneys are proactive in conducting and resolving disputes in the best interest of our clients. We place much emphasis on the need to assist clients efficiently and as expediently as we possibly can. Our diverse Litigation practice serves the Bowman Gilfillan group's regular clients, in addition to those who exclusively seek our litigation capabilities.
We understand that defending the client's brand and using their resources efficiently is critical. Our litigators recognise that, while some of our clients consider litigation to be one of the weapons in their commercial arsenal, many regard it as an expensive and risky necessity. We therefore ensure that alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are always assessed, not only in relation to time and cost, but also in relation to each client's ultimate aim and business objectives.
Our Litigation department is a full servicedepartment, with significant depth, covering all areas of litigation. We are proud to be regarded as one of the pre-eminent litigation teams in the country. We are based mainly in Johannesburg and Cape Town, but are instructed by large national clients to represent them throughout the Republic of South Africa and other African jurisdictions, as well as international arbitrations.
Our team offers a high degree of specialisation within the various units that make up our dispute resolution/litigation department, ensuring that clients get the best expertise when it comes to managing their specific needs.
Our commercial litigation specialists are well placed to analyse commercial litigation disputes and identify creative solutions that prevent disputes from escalating to the point where they have to be resolved by a court. If formal litigation is ultimately unavoidable, our approach is to try to resolve any disputes in a cost-effective manner, aimed at generating results that are commercially appropriate to our clients' needs.
We render professional, quality legal advice across most areas of law, and our team of lawyers have particular experience in banking, construction and engineering, mining, insolvency and debt recovery, IT, protection of intellectual property rights, medical malpractice, insurance, employee benefits, forensic services and white collar crime, tax, aeronautics and other general commercial fields. We advise clients on the protection of confidential business, technical, scientific and research information. We have worked closely with clients in regard to disputes before regulatory bodies like the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Securities Regulation Panel (SRP).
With the development of the firm's African Group, we are able to offer a broad scope of legal services to support our litigation and arbitration lawyers in proceedings elsewhere in Africa.
Arbitration has been a popular method of resolving disputes particularly in the employment, construction and engineering sectors.
A number of the directors of the firm are members of the Association of Arbitrators and have significant expertise in domestic arbitrations. The firm is also becoming more involved in international arbitrations on account of the time which it takes to get to trial as well as appeal procedures involved, arbitration is regarded as a speedy and effective means of resolving disputes.
Our litigation department is well-placed to offer clients outstanding legal advice and provide professional and efficient legal service, whether in a court room, arbitration, tribunal hearing or other dispute resolution forum.
Our litigators help resolve disputes arising from the infringement of commercial contracts, as well as post-acquisition issues, distributorship agreements and officers' and directors' legal responsibilities. We also assist our corporate department in private equity, mergers, securities, acquisitions and all forms of debt finance. We frequently work together with the in-house legal departments of large corporate clients.
We have successfully represented many prominent construction and engineering companies and mining houses in litigation and arbitration proceedings both in South Africa and beyond our borders.
Our litigators have advised on and drafted various types of contracts, including those for the sale and supply of goods and services, partnering agreements, licensing and franchising arrangements, standard terms and conditions, consultancy agreements, agency agreements, outsourcing agreements, confidentiality and trade secrets agreements and facilities management agreements. We act both for service suppliers and for those procuring or processing services and are well positioned to achieve successful commercial outcomes.
We undertake all aspects of insolvency (corporate and personal), corporate recovery and debt work.
We have experience in a range of constitutional and public law matters, particularly labour and environmental issues, and have represented parties in the Constitutional Court in a diverse range of matters. We have also represented public interest organisations as Friends of the court in various matters and have brought and defended Constitutional Court cases on behalf of corporate clients.
Our approach to forensic investigation aims to reduce, control and prevent business relatedcrime, including fraud. Our team is particularly knowledgeable and experienced in conducting investigations, applying the law of evidence and carrying out investigative legal procedures. We have the necessary interrogative litigation skills to investigate and institute civil, disciplinary or criminal proceedings and recover whatever losses may have been sustained.
Our team has developed comprehensive fraud prevention strategies for clients and conducts regular fraud training, which is packaged to suit client needs.
Our litigators work directly with clients in structuring sophisticated commercial transactions to identify and minimize the effects of insolvency, offering leading insolvency solutions.
We have, for over a hundred years, acted for one of the major banks in the country. We also represent other financial institutions and insurance companies.
Our IP litigation team has particular expertise in enforcing intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks and copyright and in the prevention of counterfeiting.
Our Employee Benefits team draws on the specialised assistance of a number of experienced practitioners in our Johannesburg and Cape Town offices. The teams services include mediation, arbitration, and litigation in all forums including Pension Fund Adjudications, FSB Appeal Boards, Medical Scheme Appeal Boards, Labour Court, Equality Court and various ombuds.
Our experienced and dedicated team understands the complex issues related to personal injury and medical law.
We have dedicated lawyers who specialising in property disputes. Their knowledge and experience is used assertively and creatively for our clients.
We have a team dedicated to tax disputes litigation and resolution, which aims to settle tax disputes as amicably as possible. Our team includes tax experts, as well as skilled administrators and litigators.
We have experience in a range of constitutional and public law matters, particularly labour and environmental issues, and have represented parties in the Constitutional Court in a diverse range of matters. We have also represented public interest organisations as Friends of the court in various matters and have brought and defended Constitutional Court cases on behalf of corporate clients.
Our approach to forensic investigation aims to reduce, control and prevent business relatedcrime, including fraud. Our team is particularly knowledgeable and experienced in conducting investigations, applying the law of evidence and carrying out investigative legal procedures. We have the necessary interrogative litigation skills to investigate and institute civil, disciplinary or criminal proceedings and recover whatever losses may have been sustained.
Our team has developed comprehensive fraud prevention strategies for clients and conducts regular fraud training, which is packaged to suit client needs.
Our litigators work directly with clients in structuring sophisticated commercial transactions to identify and minimize the effects of insolvency, offering leading insolvency solutions.
We have, for over a hundred years, acted for one of the major banks in the country. We also represent other financial institutions and insurance companies.
Our IP litigation team has particular expertise in enforcing intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks and copyright and in the prevention of counterfeiting.
Our Employee Benefits team draws on the specialised assistance of a number of experienced practitioners in our Johannesburg and Cape Town offices. The teams services include mediation, arbitration, and litigation in all forums including Pension Fund Adjudications, FSB Appeal Boards, Medical Scheme Appeal Boards, Labour Court, Equality Court and various ombuds.
Our experienced and dedicated team understands the complex issues related to personal injury and medical law.
We have dedicated lawyers who specialising in property disputes. Their knowledge and experience is used assertively and creatively for our clients.
We have a team dedicated to tax disputes litigation and resolution, which aims to settle tax disputes as amicably as possible. Our team includes tax experts, as well as skilled administrators and litigators.
