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Andrew Weeks
26/08/2008 – 10:44 am by Andrew Weeks
Andrew Weeks (BA LLB) - ASSOCIATE
Email: andrew@michalsons.com
Cell: 072 530 6116
Andrew is an Associate at Michalsons and an experienced commercial attorney. His main focus currently is consumer protection and privacy law in an electronic environment. Andrew is a self-confessed plain language contract geek, who has drafted a wide range of commercial agreements in plain (or plainer) English. He has recently edited numerous complex banking contracts and other documents to comply with the new Consumer Protection Act’s plain language provision.
Andrew became passionate about plain legal language while working in the UK, and made it his mission to educate clients about the legal, business and marketing benefits of well-drafted documents. He has been interviewed on national radio on this topic.
After studying law in Johannesburg, Andrew worked for several years as a legal and business consultant in London. Here he gained experience in IT procurement, biotechnology, and the music industry, and was involved in capital raising efforts for an early internet startup. He was also active in the management of a residential property investment group.
Andrew moved to the legal advisory division of Maitland, the London firm linked to SA law firms Shepstone & Wylie and Webber Wentzel Bowens. Here he worked on general corporate & commercial matters, vessel finance, cross-border litigation, tax and intellectual property. He advised a global software group and its US users on the 1995 EU data protection (privacy) directive, and was part of the team advising a South African IT group on the acquisition of a key UK subsidiary.
Returning to South Africa, Andrew joined Cape Town firm Findlay & Tait, which was part of Maitland but has since merged with Bowman Gilfillan. Here he continued working in general commercial law, and maintained an interest in data protection, advising a global accounting firm on this area for a new e-commerce project.
Andrew’s interest in delivering practical legal services in plain language led him to start his own advisory business. Here he focuses on commercial legal advice and agreements for an entrepreneurial client base in sectors as varied as communications, publishing, electronics, agriculture and property development. One of his earliest clients was a major UK-listed financial services group for whom he drafted a website privacy policy and legal terms.
Andrew is in the final stages of a Master of Laws degree at the University of Cape Town specialising in ICT law. His dissertation is on South African electronic privacy law.
Education
- BA degree in Economics, Philosophy & English - Stellenbosch University - 1988
- LLB (Bachelor of Laws) degree - University of the Witwatersrand - 1991
Experience
- GISS bv - Legal & business consultant - 1992 to 1996
- Maitland (Shepstone & Wylie UK) - Associate lawyer - 1997 to 1999
- Bowman Gilfillan (Findlay & Tait) - Candidate/ Attorney - 2000 to 2001
- Tenet Legal Consulting - Legal adviser - 2002 to the present
Professional
- Attorney & Notary of the High Court of South Africa (Cape Provincial Division)
- Member, Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope
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