Overview
Mark is fast developing a robust commercial chancery practice, having previously gained extensive experience at the Bar in South Africa. Over a period of more than ten years, he has represented individuals, corporate clients, and the government in wide-ranging, often complex, disputes.
Mark is regarded as being strategic, practical, and thorough in his approach. These attributes, coupled with his calm disposition, mean that he is sought after as sole counsel and as a member of larger teams.
Mark is skilled at distilling complicated issues and presenting them in an accessible way: he co-authored the latest edition of Amler’s Pleadings, the leading textbook on pleading in South Africa.
Before joining the Bar, Mark gained valuable insight into the broader profession: he clerked for Justice Ngcobo at the Constitutional Court of South Africa; he practised as an attorney in South Africa; and he worked as a development editor at Oxford University Press.
Insolvency
Mark receives instructions in all areas of corporate and personal insolvency.
In addition to his regular court appearances, Mark has provided strategic advice to liquidators and administrators on the recovery of assets, the failure of directors to comply with their duties, transactions at an undervalue, and preferences.
Mark has a consultancy arrangement with a leading specialist bankruptcy, insolvency, and restructuring firm.
Company & Partnership
Mark receives instructions in a broad range of contentious and non-contentious company and partnership matters. These are often, though not always, related to his insolvency practice.
Key experience is this area includes the preparation of a series of opinions for a development bank related to the forms and structures of business entities best suited to carrying out major infrastructural development.
Commercial Litigation
Mark receives instructions in a broad range of commercial disputes. His most recent instructions related to:
- The recovery of professional fees by an offshore-based firm
- The recovery of funds invested in a failed development project
- The enforcement of contractual rights to property title
Offshore & International
Mark continues to receive instructions for contentious and non-contentious work in South Africa. There, he has extensive experience in:
- Corporate and commercial matters
- Constitutional and administrative matters
- Compulsory acquisition matters
Mark has represented:
- An Isle of Man-registered company in a claim for compensation for the compulsory acquisition of land in South Africa (involving a 20-week trial)
- A Guernsey-registered company for the recovery of professional fees
Mark has recently augmented his knowledge in this area through his completion of the advanced master’s programme in international dispute settlement and arbitration at Leiden University.
Qualifications / Education
- BCom (Economics, Legal Studies) (with Dean’s commendation)
- LLB (with Dean’s commendation)
- LLM (Advanced Studies in International Dispute Settlement and Arbitration) (cum laude)
Memberships
- Honourable Society of the Middle Temple
- Cape Bar (South Africa)
