There comes a moment in any long, serious matter when the opposing advocate knows your client better than your own team does. He has spent two years watching the witness from across the room. He is paid to find what is wrong with the case. Your team, by contrast, has been right. The strategy holds. The client is steady. Familiar relationships are the unguarded ones. When something gives, your team is rarely looking. This is the fourth in Wessel’s series on the rules of practi

The most consequential conversation in any serious legal matter is usually the first one. The client tells his story. The lawyer listens. The matter is named. What is less often noticed is that the naming is also a choice: the frame chosen determines what must be proved, what must be proved determines what evidence may be heard, and what evidence may be heard determines the question the court can answer. In a profession organised around specialisation, the system does not req

Most lawyers have a ready answer for every difficult result. The facts were against them. The judge was unreceptive. The client made it impossible. The other side had resources and resolve that no one could have predicted. The explanations are usually true, and that is the problem. This is the second article in Wessel’s rules of practice series. The rule it examines is one every serious professional believes he already applies, but most do not. In a lengthy matter that ended

South African mining continues to attract serious foreign capital, including from China, because the opportunity is real. But the financial case is only one part of the investment. A mine that appears attractive on paper can be defeated by licensing risk, labour instability, community conflict, environmental delay, exchange-control mistakes, regulatory intervention or litigation visible only to those who know where to look. In this article, attorney Wessel Badenhorst draws on

There is a discipline in advocacy that has nothing to do with courtroom drama and everything to do with the art of persuasion. It is the discipline of knowing which facts carry the argument, which ones support it quietly, and which ones, however true and however compelling to the client, should never play at all. Picasso called it the elimination of the unnecessary. In a courtroom, it is the difference between a case that persuades and a record that merely overwhelms. Wessel

In this article, Wessel sets out the first of the firm’s rules of practice: assumptions are the silent assassin of good legal strategy. Drawing on nearly three decades in disputes work, he explains why lawyers and clients must resist the urge to move too quickly to conclusions, and why the best outcomes usually begin with disciplined fact finding, structured digital systems, and the judgement to understand what the real problem is before trying to solve it. My first rule of p

In this article, Wessel argues that the present geopolitical contest for minerals and industrial capacity leaves South Africa with very little time for policy slogans and very little room for regulatory drift. At a moment when global capital is moving selectively and critical minerals are attracting sharper strategic attention, he contends that South Africa’s best remaining opportunity is to act decisively, streamline approvals, reduce regulatory friction, and make the countr

In this article, Wessel draws on his experience in both health and safety and labour law to consider a practical question that arises after every serious mining incident: should the employer move straight to dismissal, or first complete a proper investigation? He argues for a disciplined middle course, one that uses precautionary suspension where necessary, preserves the integrity of the investigation, and ensures that any disciplinary outcome is based on properly tested fact

In this keynote address, delivered on 31 January 2024 at Guildhall in London for the South African Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards Gala Dinner, Wessel draws on his experience working closely with the Chamber during his time as Office Managing Partner of Hogan Lovells Johannesburg to reflect on South Africa’s business climate at a pivotal moment. Speaking against the backdrop of an election year, labour unrest, pressure in the mining sector, and the wider legacy of state cap