From trench to Bench for Papier
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has appointed 15 new high court judges, four of them in the Western Cape, including renowned human rights lawyer Taswell Papier.
The other three judges are Mushtak Kassim Parker, advocate Mark Louis Sher SC and Eduard Derek Wille. Their appointments were effective from Wednesday.
In 2006, Papier was awarded the UK Global Lawyer of the Year Award, a first for Africa. In 2014, while at ENSafrica, the largest law firm in Africa, he was inducted as a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management in Boston, US.
Papier has acted in many high-profile cases over the course of his 30 years as a lawyer.
Reacting to the appointment, he said: “I am honoured to have been appointed by the president as a permanent judge of the Cape High Court. I feel privileged to have been recommended by the Judicial Service Commission and appreciate
all the support.
“I value the opportunity to uphold and protect our constitution, its values and the human rights entrenched in it.
‘‘I look forward to, as a judge, contributing towards building the rule of law and to participating constructively in an independent judiciary deserving of the respect of all our people.”
Papier was a partner in the corporate-commercial department at ENSafrica, with more than 620 lawyers and 12 offices across the continent, before he was appointed acting judge earlier this year.
Hailing from Steenberg, he
attended St Augustine’s Primary School in Wittebome and St Columbus High School in Athlone.
After his undergraduate studies at UWC, he served his articles in Atlantis and Mitchells Plain, where he practised for 17 years.
During the mid-1980s, Papier was among the founding members of Nadel (National Association of Democratic Lawyers), under the mentorship of the country’s first post-democracy minister of Justice, Dullah Omar, the late chief justice Pius Langa, and others.
Papier did extensive pro bono work for anti-apartheid activists throughout his career.