Schindlers Attorneys

COMMERCIAL LAW

Our broad expertise in most areas of corporate, commercial and property law, enables us to render the highest quality commercial legal advice to a broad range of domestic and multi-national clients. Our department, comprising experienced and open-minded attorneys, chartered accountants, notaries, conveyancers and tax practitioners, renders services including:

• Negotiating, drafting, implementing and interpreting commercial agreements that are extremely varied in their nature to a commercial client base that reaches all areas of the commerce spectrum.
• Mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, business reorganisations and restructurings, SMME business, commercial advice and structuring, corporate governance and BEE transactions.
• Advice on, and professional assistance with, the incorporation of juristic entities, including all types of trusts, takeovers of existing entities and the personalisation thereof, the preparation and registration of all corporate documentation, including, memorandum of incorporations, company resolutions, shareholders’ agreements, loan agreements, liquidation and sequestration applications, buy/sell agreements and share acquisition agreements.
• Tax advice from our registered tax practitioners on all transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, transactions involving offshore entities, corporate group restructurings, foreign loan approvals and exchange controls, the structuring and restructuring of corporate and shareholder’s loans, declaring of dividends, voluntary and compulsory sequestrations and de-registrations.
• Cross-border advice to companies at a strategic level and managing the implementation of complex transactions both domestically and internationally.
• Corporate financial management, including the supervision of auditors/accounting officers/bookeepers in the preparation of annual financial statements, conducting of audits and forensic audits and the day to day financial management of corporations.
• Comprehensive statutory company secretarial services.

CRIMINAL LAW

Schindlers will assist clients with bail applications both at the police station and at Court. Schindlers aims to protect the rights of the individual and will ensure that individuals rights are protected at all times and that a fair trial is given to the accused. Schindlers will provide assistance from bail to trial and guide you throughout. Schindlers offers advice on various aspects of criminal law and will educate you on your rights so that you are aware of same and will be protected in the future.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) has become exceedingly popular in today’s times both locally and internationally. ADR allows you to ensure that a proficient advocate, attorney or retired judge applies his or her mind to the papers and gives a competent order. Furthermore, ADR is far more expedient as time periods are monitored by an independent organisation such as the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (“AFSA”) and any extension requested by a party must first be granted by the Arbitrator.
 
Schindler’s Attorneys has a long history of Dispute Resolution and have dealt with numerous ADR matters over a number of years. Schindler’s are experts in the ADR procedure and all legislation and regulations associated with ADR. Furthermore, over the many years of experience in dealing with ADR matters and organisations, Schindler’s has developed an excellent working relationship with AFSA among other independent organisations dealing with ADR.
 
As a result of Schindler’s extensive experience, expertise and close working relationships, Schindler’s is able to ensure that legal advice and services of an exceedingly high standard are provided to our Clients and that disputes are resolved effectively, efficiently and in the quickest possible time whilst ensuring that all actions taken are in our Client’s best interests thus enabling our Client’s to obtain optimal results.

ESTATES & TRUSTS

ESTATE PLANNING & TRUSTS
Estate planning is usually embarked upon together with income tax planning to structure an individual’s affairs eg: when an individual draws up a will. Schindlers will provide you with the best solution which will protect your assets and which solution provides for the least payment of estate duty. We also advise clients on the creation of trusts which can be created in order to provide the best working solution for the individual and are generally formed to protect minors’ interests.

ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES
Schindlers will assist in the interpretation of wills and other legal issues arising out of a person’s death. This includes all dealings with the Master of the High Court, obtaining valuations of assets and liabilities, the winding up of the deceased estate, the resolution of disputes and claims of all creditors and heirs, the payment of liabilities, and the distribution of the net assets to beneficiaries.

Schindlers Attorneys is a dynamic multi-disciplinary law firm offering a full range of legal services to both corporate and individual clients in South Africa and around the world. Through our unmatched professionalism and comprehensive knowledge of the South African business environment, we ensure that our lawyers offer the highest calibre legal advice in every situation.

Our innovative approach and creative business solutions are specifically tailored to guarantee that every client’s individual needs are met, and by taking the time to understand our client’s business, we ensure consistently remarkable results.

The firm is widely recognised for our friendly and flexible approach, our rapid turn-around times and exceptionally high ethical standards – a combination that keeps our clients coming back time and time again. With more than 50 professionals in a variety of legal areas including commercial, litigation, conveyancing, labour, IP and consumer law, we are well placed to advise on all of your legal requirements.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Intellectual property constitutes the intangible property which is a result of the creations of the mind: this incorporates trade marks, trade secrets, inventions, designs, literary works, artistic works, symbols, names and images used in the commercial environment. Intellectual property rights can protect the interests of the creator and thus enable innovation and creation to flourish without fear.

Protecting one’s business’s intellectual property rights is essential in modern economic practice, particularly in relation to establishing and maintaining one’s business’s goodwill and reputation. Intellectual property can also be extremely valuable. Schindlers Attorneys’ intellectual property department deals with a multitude of aspects of intellectual property including trademark prosecution (which involves the registration, maintenance, protection and enforcement of trademarks and their associated rights) and litigation in relation to various aspects of intellectual property.

All members of the intellectual property team have wide experience in both commercial and litigious fields of law and are therefore poised to tackle intellectual property matters holistically. Contact Caitlin Wilde for further assistance and advice in respect of intellectual property.

LABOUR LAW

In an increasingly competitive world, it is vital that a company is able to attract and retain the best people. This requires a pro-active approach to managing and meeting workforce expectations and also requires an open and innovative approach to resourcing businesses. Labour law provides the legal framework within which businesses and employees interact in this dynamic environment. Given the broad legislative intervention in South Africa, employment law has become increasingly complex.

Keeping abreast of the latest legal developments in legislation and case law is essential as non-compliance with legal obligations may be costly.

Our employment team provides the full spectrum of labour law services including labour litigation, drafting of labour related contracts and legal opinions regarding the various labour related legislation.

OUR EXPERIENCE

We advise our clients on a wide range of employment matters and commercial matters with employment law implications. Our expertise includes the following:

• Senior executive terminations
• Unfair labour practices (promotion, demotion, training, benefits, unfair suspension and disciplinary action short of dismissal)
• Workplace discipline (disciplinary procedures, conducting disciplinary enquiries and chairing disciplinary hearings)
• Dismissals (termination with or without notice, constructive, automatically unfair, misconduct, operational requirements (retrenchments) and incapacity including poor work performance, incompatibility and ill-health)
• Restructuring and organisational development
• Strikes and protest action, dismissal of unprotected strikers and lock-outs
• Collective labour law, including dealing with trade unions, organisational rights issues, and industrial action
• Pension fund, provident fund and retirement annuity disputes
• Drafting specialised employment agreements including restraint of trade agreements and employee invention and secrecy agreements
• Advice on temporary employment services (labour brokers)
• Closures, mergers and sales of businesses in the context of section 197 of the Labour Relations Act
• Instituting or defending matters in the CCMA, bargaining councils, Labour Court, Labour Appeal Court, High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court
• Advice on compliance with all labour legislation.

OUR SERVICES

Consulting

We guide and assist our clients, whether an employee or an employer, by focusing on proactive solutions. We pride ourselves on developing a deep understanding of our client’s needs and being able to provide them with a complete suite of legal services.

Drafting

We draft agreements, policies, guidelines and procedures including:

• Contracts of employment, including, executive, standard, fixed term and temporary employment agreements
• Independent contractor agreements
• Termination of employment agreements
• Severance and settlement agreements
• Restraint of trade and confidentiality agreements
• Employee share option schemes and plans
• Employment policies, manuals and codes
• Opinions in respect of labour legislation and case law
• Policies on sexual harassment and social networking

Dispute Resolution

We support our clients in resolving matters, in their best interests, as quickly and efficiently as possible. We do this by appearing, either by means of our respected attorneys and candidate attorneys or appointed external counsel, in all employment-related forums including the CCMA, bargaining councils, Labour Court, Labour Appeal Court, High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court. We also assist our clients with private arbitrations and the Department of Labour.

PROPERTY LAW

The Property Law Department handles all matters relating to property that are not conveyancing or notarial in nature (as well as certain complex property transactions linked to conveyancing and notarial instructions).

Typical examples include residential and commercial leases, evictions and rental disputes, spoliation applications including applications to restore the supply of services to an occupant of a building/home, building agreements and disputes, property related arbitrations (common in the built environment industry and sectional title and other forms of communal ownership schemes), complaints to the CSOS ombud, negotiation and drafting of complex servitude, notarial tie, and other conveyancing and notarial transactions, any tax related issues relating to property, property owning and managing enterprises, and restructuring of property holdings, estate planning and drafting of wills, letters of wishes, but and sell agreements and other estate planning instruments, corporate restructuring for property rich entities, exchange control advice and applications for approval, all aspects of loan account management, all types of sale and lease agreements (including all forms of corporate financing agreements), and all aspects of credit security including notarial bonds, suretyship agreements, indemnities, guarantees, cessions and pledge of shares or other securities, and mortgage bonds. We can assist not only for transactions within the borders of South Africa but in most African jurisdictions as well.