Awards honour excellence
• Local lawyers and practices named in annual list of those at the top of their game, writes Lynette Dicey
The Best Lawyers in SA list has been honouring the professional excellence of lawyers in SA since 2008. Now in its 14th edition, Best Lawyers recognises lawyers across a multitude of practice areas. This year, 46 lawyers were recognised as Lawyer of the Year.
The “Lawyer of the Year” honours are awarded annually to only one lawyer per practice area in each region. Lawyers are nominated for consideration and voted on by currently recognised Best Lawyers working in the same practice area and located in the same geographic region. Those who receive high peer reviews undergo a thorough verification process to ensure they are still in private practice.
The “Law Firm of the Year” awards recognise a single top firm for its work in a specific legal practice area nationwide. Three firms stand out this year, each winning two categories. ENSafrica wins both the banking and finance law category as well as the tax law category. Pinsent Masons wins both the construction law category and the project finance and development practice category. Cox Yeats Attorneys wins both the insurance law category and the real estate law category.
The other winners are Werksmans Attorneys (competition and antitrust law), Bowman’s (corporate law), Adams & Adams (intellectual property), Fasken (labour and employment law), Webber Wentzel (litigation), Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (mergers and acquisitions) and Falcon & Hume (mining).
Awards are determined based on a handful of factors including lawyer feedback, the
number of lawyers included in Best Lawyers for that firm and practice areas, the number of office locations a firm has, historical analysis of the firm’s “Lawyer of the Year” awards, materials submitted by firms and the firm’s overall scope and areas of expertise.
This year’s list revealed that intellectual property (IP) lawyers had the most significant increase in headcount. The majority of these lawyers come from two boutique IP powerhouses: Spoor & Fisher and Adams and Adams.
The increased focus on IP is logical given the passing into law of the Copyright Amendment Bill this year as well as the pandemic’s impact on media consumption, says Kristen Greer, senior research manager at Best Lawyers.
The next largest growth was in corporate law, which is also to be expected given that post the pandemic, business activity is stronger than expected, says Greer.
“I was surprised by the lack of increase around administrative and public law as well as oil and gas as public sector wages, social security and the emphasis on climate risks become more frequent and urgent discussions.”
In SA, the top 10 practice areas by size are corporate law, litigation, mergers and acquisitions law, labour and employment law, IP law, banking and finance law, real estate law, competition and antitrust law, construction law and insurance law.
Anthony Norton from law firm Norton Inc has been recognised by Best Lawyers 2023 in regulatory practice and competition/antitrust law.
He is the 2023 Lawyer of the Year for Johannesburg in regulatory practice.
A successful law firm, he says, is a combination of a number of factors. Arguably the most important of these is the level of experience and quality of lawyers. “A large firm which is thin on experience and expertise is unlikely to be very successful given that there is no substitute for either of these attributes.”
Law, he adds, is a little like medicine: it’s the quality of the doctor that counts, not the size of the hospital.
When selecting a lawyer, Norton recommends being guided by the quality of the individual concerned. “Choose a lawyer based on whether they have the necessary experience and expertise. Consider their track record and the outcomes in the matters in which they have been involved. Similarly, a good firm will have a number of lawyers with experience and expertise in a variety of practice fields.”
Norton Inc, a small boutique law firm offering high levels of expertise, has been involved in a number of the largest and most interesting merger deals that have taken place locally, including Impala Platinum’s proposed acquisition of Royal Bafokeng Platinum; Moody’s acquisition of the largest ratings agency in Africa, Global Credit Rating; TFG’s acquisition of Tapestry; and Sanlam’s acquisition of various businesses.
In addition the firm acted for eTV when it challenged government’s analogue switch off. It also does a significant amount of work in the white collar crime space and acts on behalf of listed companies with an extensive regulatory practice.
“Our regulatory practice is very strong in relation to competition law antidumping and white collar crime,” says Norton.
Smiedt & Associates Attorneys’ Michelle Kucera has been recognised by Best Lawyers in real estate law. Being solutions-based and approachable helps with the firm’s success, says Kucera.
“We build relationships with our clients and adapt according to their needs and specific requirements.”
She says there has been a shift as clients move to boutique law firms for a more hands-on approach.
To see the full list, log on to https://www.businesslive.co.za/ bd/national/2022-11-17lawyers-of-the-year-2023