No. of Partners : 29
No. of Lawyers : 18
Languages : English
Offices : Cape Town & Johannesburg
WHO WE ARE
Fairbridges Wertheim Becker was formed in 2015 as a result of the merger between two respected South African law firms, the first being Fairbridges established in 1812 in Cape Town, and the second being Wertheim Becker founded in 1904 in Johannesburg. We are the oldest law firm in the Southern Hemisphere and our history, expertise and value proposition make us the ideal partner to assist clients in achieving their commercial and personal legal objectives.
We have built our professional reputation as South Africa's senior law firm through our commitment to service excellence and maintenance of the highest standards in the practise of law. We have always managed to adapt to change and embrace innovation in seeking enterprising solutions for our clients. Our current generation of attorneys, notaries and conveyancers is fully attuned to the requirements of a rapidly evolving modern world. We welcome its challenges, secure in the solid and enduring foundation on which our firm has been built.
OUR GLOBAL PRESENCE
We have since 1999 been the exclusive South African member of TerraLex, a leading international network of top independent law firms in more than 100 countries. With over 1,000 offices and comprising more than 18,000 lawyers, the TerraLex member firms offer our clients global expertise with local knowledge and connections.
Membership of TerraLex enables us to effectively meet our clients' legal requirements, wherever they do business or require advice and support, confident in the high professional standards and quality of our TerraLex colleagues
Go to: www.terralex.org
OUR EXPERTISE
Our teams of experienced and highly – qualified attorneys and professional staff allow us to offer a complete legal service offering, through our multi- disciplinary practice groups. We have the capacity, resources and skills to meet our clients' needs both locally and abroad, while ensuring a personal, supportive and professional relationship with all our clients. At a glance we provide the following legal services:
Competition Law
We specialise in all aspects of competition law and regulation, and have experience across a broad range of business areas, sectors and industries, including in respect of:
- Prohibited practices
- Merger control
- Cartel investigation
- Corporate leniency applications
- Compliance and Competition law training programmes
Corporate and Commercial Law
Our corporate and commercial division specializes in a wide range of matters including:
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Corporate Restructuring
- Prospectuses and Listings
- Corporate and structured finance arrangements
- Structuring and drafting of commercial contracts
- Due diligence audits
- Empowerment transactions
- Financial Markets and securities law
- Tax and exchange control
- Corporate governance and
- Sports and entertainment law
Conveyancing and Property Law
We have a large and well-established conveyancing and property team which focuses on:
- Residential property transfers
- Commercial property transfers
- Mortgage bond registrations for commercial banks
- Cancellation of residential or commercial bonds
- All aspects related to sectional title schemes
- Registration of servitudes, subdivisions and consolidations of property
Dispute Resolution
We practise in all areas of litigation and dispute resolution, including in respect of:
- Commercial litigation
- Construction law
- Consumer law
- Delictual and contract law
- Shareholder disputes
- Personal injury
In addition to the above we also specialize in medico-legal work and provide representation to various hospital groups and medical professionals.
Employment Law
Our team has significant expertise and experience in all aspects of employment law including:
- All aspects of collective bargaining issues
- Industrial action disputes
- Internal pre-dismissal processes
- Employment equity, medical aid schemes and retirement
- Occupational health and safety
Intellectual Property
Our long established IP department has acted for clients in many local and foreign jurisdictions in a range of IP matters including:
- Local and foreign trademark disputes
- Maintenance and registration of local and foreign trademarks
- Copywrite matters
- Patents and Licencing
- Unfair competition and passing off Domain name disputes
- Regulatory and other commercial advice relating to IP
As regards trademarks specifically, we manage a large portfolio of trademarks and are responsible for many well-known brands. We represent clients with varying business activities and cover industries ranging from finance, investments, transport, municipalities, clothing retail, telecommunications, IT, pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles; construction, consumer products such as foods and beverages etc.
Public Law
We practice in administrative law as well as regulatory and Constitutional law and are able to advise our clients on the practical effect of legislation, and the powers afforded to administrators, on their organisations. We also advise on judicial remedies available to our clients pursuant to unlawful administrative action.
Our team of experienced litigants in this arena have represented both the regulators and the parties affected by the administrative decisions. This has afforded them the opportunity to be at the cutting edge of this arena of the law by providing a unique solutions to often complex and emotive subjects. Our attorneys have represented clients by providing unusual and yet effective strategies to achieve the desired results in the most cost-effective and prudent manner. They have partnered with the clients in achieving results that are in the best interests of the organisation they represent.
Moreover, we advise on tenders, licencing and compliance requirements in various sectors, in particular the health sector, waste management, the meat industry, the transport industry as well as the construction industry.
The firm has been invited to do investigations in relation to tenders awarded by various state-owned enterprises and large corporate’s. This includes inter alia due diligence investigations on tenders awarded and licenses granted for the purposes of investment vehicles and investors.
Trusts and Estates
We have extensive expertise in relation to:
- Estates planning
- Wills
- Estate administration
- Disputed Wills
- Curatorship applications and administration
- Formation and registration of inter vivos trusts; and
- Trust governance and administration.
OUR CLIENTS
We represent commercial clients across a wide range of industries worldwide including:
- Construction;
- Manufacturing;
- Medical Clinics;
- Bio-Tech and Pharmaceutical;
- Retail and Commercial Property;
- Liquor;
- Retail and Wholesale;
- Financial Services;
- Food Services;
- Municipalities;
- Tertiary Education;
- Financial Services; and
- Mining.
