About Us
V i s i o n
To give our clients added value by being astute lawyers with business acumen.
M i s s i o n
To work hard at both the law and business without ever compromising our values.
Contents
- Our Philosophy
- Our History
- Our Corporate Information
- Our Structure
- Our Divisions
- Our Equity Programme
- Our Technology
- Our Promise
At Joubert Galpin Searle we offer you the best of the old combined with the best of the new – a balance between the traditional values of integrity, trust and mutual respect and our dynamic approach to a constantly changing business environment.
While we embrace change and the challenges it brings, we will never compromise our principles.
We are not just experienced lawyers, we are lawyers who understand business. We believe that it is our commitment to consistent hard work that allows us to gain a thorough knowledge of our clients’ business and their specific needs. This, combined with our knowledge of the law, allows us to add real value to your endeavours.
This is what makes us astute lawyers with business acumen.
Early 1920s
Joubert Galpin Searle was established as a legal partnership by Lance Leurant Joubert and Cecil Carter Galpin.
1928
Robert St Leger Searle joined the partnership, giving rise to the name Joubert Galpin & Searle.
1951
The practice relocated to the NBS building at 30 Main Street, Port Elizabeth.
1984
The Property Division was formed as our first area of specialisation, leading to six further divisions within Joubert Galpin Searle. The creation of these divisions has allowed us to focus on key sectors within commerce, industry, finance and insurance.
1990
Joubert Galpin Searle was incorporated and registered with the Registrar of Companies.
1999
Joubert Galpin Searle relocated to our current headquarters at 173 Cape Road, Mill Park, Port Elizabeth.
Today
Drawing on over 80 years of experience, Joubert Galpin Searle is one of the most respected law firms in the Eastern Cape, serving a significant section of the province’s business community.
name:
Joubert Galpin & Searle Incorporated
registration number:
1990/000957/21
physical address:
173 Cape Road, Mill Park, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
Republic of South Africa 6045
postal address:
PO Box 59 Port Elizabeth, Republic of South Africa 6000
e-mail address:
info@jgs.co.za
bankers:
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (Port Elizabeth)
auditors:
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Port Elizabeth
insurance brokers:
Glenrand MIB
docex
Docex 12, Port Elizabeth
At Joubert Galpin Searle our focus is on serving the commercial, industrial, financial, insurance and property sectors of the market, primarily large and medium enterprises.
Our aim in focusing on these particular market sectors is to provide specialised advice in order to:
- offer our clients more effective legal support and pre-emptive legal advice;
- minimise our clients’ legal risk exposure;
- understand and accommodate the individual needs of our clients in support of their specific business objectives.
For over 80 years, we have served the Eastern Cape business community in the following sectors:
- Manufacturing
- Property
- Environmental
- Financial
- Tax
- Insurance
- Construction
- Tertiary Educational Institutions
- Health
- Deceased Estates
- Retail
- Agricultural
- Services
- Individuals
- Shipping
We have 5 professional service divisions backed by an Administrative Division. We strive to specialise as far as possible within the disciplines covered by each division.
These divisions fall under the general management of Joubert Galpin Searle, which determines the various activities of the company. Each division is headed by a director, who is responsible for co-ordination and control within the division.
The level of training and expertise amongst our 58 professionals and staff is widely recognised by local business as being of the highest order, while the technological infrastructure of our administrative system is designed to handle a high-volume workload and has become a benchmark for the region.
Managing Director: MC Botha
Equity Directors: Rowan Willcock, Hennie Van Eck, Warren
Parker Genny De Klerk, Salma Munshi, Leon van Staden, Johan du Plooy
Associate Directors: Leigh Adams
Associate: Karel van Wyk
Professional Assistants: Richard Swanson
Candidate Attorneys: Ayanda Kheswa and Melissa van
Loggerenberg
Financial Manager: Carol Luck
Administrative Manager: Devin Flesch
C o m m e r c i a l
The Commercial Division is headed by MC Botha and supported by Warren Parker.
Our Commercial Division deals with trusts, company and close corporation registrations, commercial and business transactions, structuring and related matters. A high growth area has been the provision of tax planning and advice, and the formulation of empowerment structures.
MC Botha (Equity Director) specialises in companies, banking law, franchising, company restructures, corporate governance, liquor law, liquidations, insolvencies and tax. MC has a special interest in commercial and financial problem solving and tax planning.
MC has presented a series of seminars on the legal implications of the Internet and e-Commerce and Corporate Governance. In addition to his legal qualifications, MC holds Higher Diplomas in business management and tax.
Warren Parker (Equity Director) specialises in company
law, the formation of entities and business structures (including empowerment
groups and joint ventures), intellectual property law, insolvencies,
landlord and tenant law, and general commercial and notarial work. Warren
holds the International Trade Institute of Southern Africa Certificate
in International Trade and Higher Diploma in Tax, which enables him
to service clients in these fields.
P r o p e r t y
Genny De Klerk (Equity Director) is a Graduate of the University of Port Elizabeth (now the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). She joined Joubert Galpin Searle as head of the Property division in March 2006. She is supported by 3 Conveyancing staff members.
She is a qualified Conveyancer (1993) and Notary Public (1994).
Her specialistation is in Property Law and Notorial work.
Genny has been appointed by the Deeds office as a Sectional Title Arbitrator
and is a registered trainer with Poslec Seta. In the past she has devoted
a substantial amount of her spare time to lecturing at the night school
for Candidate Attorneys, for the Law Society in Conveyancing; as well
as at NMMU in Notarial Practice.
L i t i g a t i o n
Headed by Hennie van Eck, the division includes Salma Munshi, Leigh Adams, Karel van Wyk, Graeme Preston and Hanli Share.
The Litigation Division specialises in civil litigation in a variety of fields for the insurance industry, corporate clients, financial institutions and businesses.
Hennie Van Eck (Equity Director) studied at the University of Port Elizabeth and qualified as an attorney in Pretoria. He has built up considerable experience in insurance and medical negligence law and has presented numerous lectures and seminars on these subjects.
Hennie has served on the local Law Society and is a past Vice President, as well as a past Convenor of the Attorneys Admission Exams. He serves as a Commissioner of the Small Claims Court.
Salma Munshi (Equity Director) completed her training at JGS under the mentorship of Michael Searle, who was a senior partner at the time. She left after eight years with the company, to broaden her horizons. She is back with wider experience in both the legal and corporate environment.
Salma has built up valuable relationships with her clients during her years in practice.
Qualified with an MA Philosophy and LLB (Rhodes), her special field
is insurance law.
Leigh Adams (Associate Director) joined Joubert Galpin
Searle at the beginning of 2007. A graduate of the University of Potchefstroom,
Leigh holds a Bachelor of Law degree.
She has had experience with personal injury claims abroad and over 3 years experience handling Road Accident Fund matters.
Karel van Wyk (Associate) initially practised as a Maritime Lawyer in Cape Town and has since 2004 consulted and subsequently ran his own practice in Port Elizabeth, consulting to various municipalities with Business Intelligence and NMMU (ISGAD), Transnet National Ports Authority and clients in the fishing industry. He will continue assisting his current clients with Commercial Law matters.
He is a graduate of the University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) and the University of Cape Town (LLM: Shipping Law). He completed his articles in Johannesburg and practiced Shipping Law and Fisheries Law at Dawson Edwards & Associates in Cape Town, before relocating to Port Elizabeth six years ago.
Leon Van Staden (Equity Director) practices in both the Litigation and Labour divisions of the firm. His Litigation practice sees him focusing mainly in insurance related matters and his Labour practice has him mainly acting for the Employers. After completing his articles in Port Elizabeth Leon was employed as a legal advisor with a Trade Union, which inspired an interest in Labour Law and his obtaining a LL.M in this field. He practiced as a partner at a law firm in Riversdale before joining Joubert Galpin Searle in June 2003.
L a b o u r
Rowan Willcock (Equity Director) heads up the Labour Division. Educated at Cambridge School and having graduated with B Juris LLB degrees from the University of Port Elizabeth, Rowan has gained extensive experience in all areas of industrial relations, including industrial disputes. Fluent in Xhosa, he regularly appears at the Labour Court, the CCMA and private arbitration hearings and presents seminars on labour relations topics.
R e c o v e r i e s & C o l l e c t i o n s
Under the management of Johan Du Plooy
(Equity Director) the division has developed unique fixed-fee packages
for certain types of volume work, which has proved beneficial to a number
of our clients.
C a n d i d a t e A t t o r n e y s
Ayanda Kheswa graduated from NMMU in 2008 with a LLB Degree and was very involved in the development of woman at NMMU. Ayanda is passionate about Trade, Tax and Administrative Law.
Melissa van Loggerenberg graduate Cum Laude from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2009 with a LLB degree. Melissa has also completed and obtained her BSC (Hons) degree in Microbiology in 2002.
F i n a n c e
Carol Luck our Financial Manager, was born and raised in Port Elizabeth, Carol was educated at Holy Rosary Convent, where she matriculated.
She studied at the Port Elizabeth Technikon, where she received a National Higher Diploma in Cost & Management Accounting.
Carol joined Joubert Galpin in 1996, after having spent seventeen years at Sappi Novobord (Pty) Ltd.
A d m i n i s t r a t i o n
Devin Flesch is our Administrative Manager and is responsible for our Human Resources and the management of the practice at Joubert Galpin Searle.
A Masters graduate from the NMMU, Devin started his career in the HR
department at Volkswagen South Africa. After a season at VWSA he returned
to NMMU as a researcher for the automotive industry and as conference
secretary to two international trade and investment conferences. During
this time he also lectured at the University in various departments.
Prior to joining JGS, he was the Vice Principal for Varsity College
overseeing student services and marketing for the Easter Cape Region.
P r o f e s s i o n a l A s s i s t a n t
Graeme Preston moved to Port Elizabeth from Pretoria at a young age and matriculated from Alexander Road High School, He attended the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and completed his BCom Law and LLB Degrees.
In 2008 he began his legal career at Rushmere Noach Incorporated where he served as a candidate Attorney before moving to Joubert Galpin and Searle in November 2009.
Hanli Share was born and raised in Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape. She matriculated from Wittedrift High School in Plettenberg Bay in 2003. She completed her tertiary studies in Port Elizabeth at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, where she obtained her LLB degree in 2007.
Hanli did her articles at Brown Braude & Vlok Inc before joining Joubert Galpin Searle.
Joubert Galpin Searle has maintained a level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BEE) accreditation since its accreditation by BEE Ratings Solutions in July 2007. BEE Rating Solutions is an associate member of the Association of B–BEE Verification Agencies (ABVA).
We achieved maximum scores for skills development, enterprise development; and socio-economic development; and scored an inspiring 26.98 out of a total of 28 for ownership. Our total score was 101.98, which puts us at level 1, with a procurement recognition level of 135%. We feel this is a great achievement for our PE-based firm.
Joubert Galpin Searle is dedicated to the process of transformation
in our country and has actively promoted an equity programme within
the company since 1990. In pursuing our equity programme, we only appoint
candidates who are suitably qualified and display the requisite degree
of potential. Approximately one third of our staff comes from a historically
disadvantaged background.
Our current demographic make-up is as follows:
| Male | Female | |
| Black | 1 | 4 |
| White | 10 | 26 |
| Coloured | 1 | 6 |
| Indian | 0 | 1 |
We are committed to assisting our historically disadvantaged staff and professionals to grow and advance in the industry, by providing ongoing training aimed at ensuring that they are fully acquainted with the latest developments and technological advances in their fields of expertise.
Our involvement:
We employed Mr Sunil Ranchod during 1990 as a professional assistant. Mr Ranchod
subsequently obtained his MBA and has became a legal advisor at a national
insurance company.
We appointed Mr Sivu Ntlabezo as a candidate attorney during 1994 and
sponsored him through Law School. He also completed his articles with
us and qualified as an attorney in conveyancing. He has since elected
to commence practising for his own account.
We assisted in qualifying the first two Black conveyancers in the Eastern
Cape.
MC Botha was chairman of Lawyers for Human Rights (Eastern Cape) for
a period of two years and assisted extensively in investigations of
political killings and detentions, and in various human rights programmes.
Miss Liezl Skelton joined our Commercial Division during 1996 where
she received extensive training in company law, formation and registration
of legal entities, estate planning and administration and company secretarial
practise. Ms Skelton subsequently elected to further her career in academics
and went on to work for Volkswagen SA.
Mr Thando Ndlebe joined Joubert Galpin Searle during 1999 and we sponsored
him through Law School. Mr Ndlebe was part of a joint equity program
between Joubert Galpin Searle and a large multi national concern to
train Black commercial lawyers. He received training in liquor law,
company law and general commercial transactions. Mr Ndlebe decided to
further his career in banking in Gauteng.
We are constantly and actively involved in both equity and community
programmes for the disadvantaged.
We are actively assisting in the establishment of SMMEs for the disadvantaged
community.
In conjunction with a local manufacturing concern, we have spearheaded
equity outsourcing by industrial concerns to the disadvantaged communities
on a structured basis. This project was one of the first projects in
the country to receive the approval and support of Cosatu.
Zoleka Mcetywa served her two-year articles of clerkship with Joubert
Galpin Searle and was appointed as a Professional Assistant Attorney
in 2005. She relocated to Cape Town with the business transfer of her
husband.
We are actively involved in Conveyancing training for the Law Society,
where we have achieved substantial success in qualifying Black Conveyancers.
2005 saw two historically disadvantaged staff members of our firm, Sonja
Tifloen and Zoleka Mcetywa, qualify as conveyancers.
In 2006, a further Black attorney, Natascha America, was admitted as
a Notary.
Sonja Tifloen moved from our Litigation Division to our Property Division
and with effect 1 March 2007 was promoted to Equity Director - the first
historically disadvantaged attorney to be appointed as a full director
in Joubert Galpin Searle’s history.
Salma Munshi completed her training at JGS under the mentorship of Michael
Searle, who was senior partner at the time. She left after eight years
with the firm, to broaden her horizons in both the legal- and corporate
environment. Salma is now an Equity Director of JGS, practicing in the
Litigation Division, where her special field is insurance law.
Fundiswa Pukwana was employed by JGS as a candidate attorney in 2006
and was appointed a Professional Assistant once she was admitted as
an attorney. Fundiswa has recently moved to Johannesburg to seek other
challenges.
We currently employ three historically disadvantaged attorneys and are
also training one or more candidates from the historically disadvantaged
group.
Joubert Galpin Searle is committed to keeping abreast of the latest technological advances so that we can serve clients nationwide, while offering them a highly competitive rate structure.
With this as a key strategic objective, we continue to invest substantial resources in respect of:
- Continuous IT training for all our staff
- Maintaining and upgrading our fully integrated IT workplace
- Development of innovative communication software aimed at improving service delivery and customer satisfaction. For example, our IT infrastructure allows us to establish permanent electronic links with our clients so that they can access the latest information and reports as they are captured on our system. This also reduces the amount of paper generated.
Our Promise
is a combination of traditional values and modern services
In handling your business, we promise to make every effort to:
- Agree on our terms of service and fee rates with you before commencing work.
- Agree on your objectives with you at the outset.
- Reply to all correspondence promptly.
- Provide you with copies of all important documents sent or received, in good time.
- Return all calls within 24 hours.
- Report to you at regular intervals in relation to all matters.
- See you promptly for appointments.
- Account to you regularly and provide a clear record of all work completed and charged for.
- Be transparent and responsible in dealing with your funds.
- Treat you as an individual and ensure that we remain accessible.