Aziz Hartley
ONCE adjudged the global lawyer of the year in the UK – and the first African thus honoured – the instructing attorney in the Shrien Dewani case, Taswell Papier, has now been inducted as a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management in Boston, US, another first for Africa.
A partner in the corporate-commercial department at ENSafrica, the largest law firm in Africa, with more than 620 lawyers and 12 offices across the continent, Papier is a veteran human rights lawyer.
The college was formed in 1994 to honour and recognise distinguished law practice management professionals internationally.
Fellows are nominated according to set criteria and elected by a board of trustees. The criteria include having contributed significantly to the legal profession over a period of at least ten years.
Since its establishment, the college has inducted 200 fellows from 10 different countries. According to the selection panel, Papier was being recognised for his services to the profession, particularly for his contribution in the establishment of pro bono in South Africa.
“Being recognised by this organisation is humbling,” Papier says. “Being part of an international legal network opens doors to opportunities which can only benefit growth and development in our country and the continent as a whole.”
Papier was born in Steenberg and attended St Augustines 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, when I started out, I was enormously privileged to work with great leaders like the late Dullah Omar – one of the founding members of Nadel (National Association of Democratic Lawyers) together with the late chief justice Pius Langa and many others. At the time my law firm did extensive work with community-based advice offices and other progressive organisations that served as nodes of contact for communities suffering under the apartheid regime.”
Mass arrests and detentions without trial were the order of the day as thousands of people, including students, were detained under the apartheid regime’s emergency legislation.
“Through the many states of emergency, I was one of countless lawyers who through Nadel represented political activists. My work was almost exclusively in the field of human rights, in places like Ashton, Villiersdorp, the West Coast, Bloekombos, near Kraaifontein, and the like, and for the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe.”
In 1993, he attended the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School as a visiting fellow, and was subsequently awarded a scholarship to do a masters in law. On returning home, Papier was appointed to serve in a number of transformation initiatives under the new democratic government. Then justice minister Dullah Omar appointed him chair of the National Sheriff’s Board and he was elected to represent Nadel on the Cape Law Society, where he served two terms as president.
When asked about the genesis of pro bono in South Africa, Papier was modest. “Within Nadel and the Cape Law Society we worked collectively to encourage provincial law societies to adopt a resolution for an obligatory pro bono rule, which is now firmly entrenched, and it is now incorporated into our Legal Practice Act,” he said.
“I happened to chair the Cape Law Society and the Law Society of South Africa’s pro bono committee and it was a great moment when all our provincial law societies decided to adopt the obligatory pro bono rule.”
When he joined ENS in 2004, the firm decided to retain his Mitchells Plain offices as its pro bono office, providing free legal services and access to justice to hundreds of indigent people in two of South Africa’s largest townships – Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.
About the accolades over the years, for instance the Lawyer of the Year award in 2006, Papier, who specialises in corporate and commercial law, says: “It is always a humbling experience and it inspires you to want to do more and encourage others to continue the great work that they are doing.”
In 2006, he received the prestigious award at the Legal Business Award in London and was the first lawyer from Africa to have been nominated.
Papier has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, and franchising matters. He has advised on one of South Africa’s leading and significant oil and gas initiatives. He completed a second Masters, in Commercial Law, at UCT this year.
“Taswell has served on the legal task team responsible for drafting the Marine Living Resources Act.”
Asked what his message was to aspirant lawyers – especially those from poor and disadvantaged communities – his advice was to never be discouraged and to always pursue their passion.
“Never underestimate your ability to make a significant contribution regardless of your area of speciality – access to justice is key to building and maintaining the rule of law, facilitating access to justice, to eradicate the legacy of apartheid, poverty, unemployment and all the socio-economic challenges that continue to plague our society 20 years after democracy.
“This is the task of every person able to make a contribution towards accelerating the pace of substantive transformation in our country.”