On 1 September 2008, Cliffe Dekker and Hofmeyr Herbstein and
Gihwala merged to form one of South Africa's largest law firms known as Cliffe
Dekker Hofmeyr. Since its inception more than 150 years ago, the firm has grown
and evolved in step with South Africa's development and burgeoning economy. A
rich history supports the former firms that make up Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr
today.
| 1853 - 1881 |
The firm's roots are established
in Cape Town as W E Moore & Son, which later becomes Syfret
Godlonton-Fuller Moore. |
| 1895 |
Harold Blore establishes a law
firm in Johannesburg |
| 1902 |
Blore and Cliffe is established
in Johannesburg. |
| 1926 |
Carl Todd become a partner; the
firm is now known as Cliffe Dekker & Todd and remains one of the few law
firms that can trace its beginnings to before the Boer War. |
| 1926 |
Herbsteins, a commercial law
firm, is established in Cape Town and also has a presence in London. Phillip
Herbstein served as President of the Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope.
|
| 1949 |
Billy van der Merwe establishes a
legal practice in Johannesburg. |
| 1964 |
Hofmeyr van der Merwe &
Botha is established through a merger. |
| 1970 - 1974 |
Mergers are formed with, and
acquisitions made of some of South Africa's leading Johannesburg-based legal
practices: H Heimann Maasdorp & Barker; and McEwan Fearnhead Pinkerton
& Paver, eventually becoming absorbed into Cliffe Dekker & Todd. |
| 1972 |
Yusuf (Joe) Ebrahim commences
practice for his own account in Athlone, a suburb on the Cape Flats, as Y
Ebrahim & Co. Joe was appointed a judge of the Eastern Cape bench in 1997
and the practice was continued by his partner, Brent Williams, who subsequently
relocated the practice to Cape Town CBD in 1998. In 2003, the partners and
staff of Y Ebrahim & CoInc merge with Cliffe Dekker. |
| 1978 |
Dines Gihwala joins Wilkinson,
Van der Ross and Joshua and the firm was renamed Wilkinson Joshua and
Gihwala. |
| 1979 |
Syfret Godlonton-Fuller Moore
comes into being through the merger of two of Cape Town's oldest practices:
Fuller Moore and Son and Fuller De Klerk and Osler, founded in 1885, and Syfret
Godlonton and Low, founded in 1887. |
| 1988 |
Wilkinson Joshua and Gihwala
merges with Abercrombie and Sonn, a firm originally established by the late
Dullah Omar, the first Minister of Justice in the new South Africa. |
| 1994 |
South Africa holds its first
democratic elections. Dines Gihwala serves as Director: Monitoring for the
Northern Cape and is later awarded the Gold Merit Award for dedication and
excellence. |
| 1997 |
On 1 September 1997, Hofmeyr van
der Merwe in Johannesburg, Herbsteins in Cape Town and Gihwala Abercrombie in
Athlone merge to become Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala Inc, becoming one of SA's
largest full service, black-empowered national law firms |
| 1998 |
Johannesburg-based firm, Cliffe
Dekker & Todd merge with Cape Town-based, Syfret Godlonton-Fuller Moore.
The firm becomes known as Cliffe Dekker Fuller Moore. |
| 1999 |
Cape-based Silberbauers is
merged into the practice. |
| 2002 |
The firm, Cliffe Dekker Fuller
Moore changes its name to Cliffe Dekker, operating out of Johannesburg and Cape
Town. |
| 2003 |
The partners of Y Ebrahim &
Co Inc merge with Cliffe Dekker. |
| 2006 |
Jeftha Twala Inc, one of the
largest black law firms in Cape Town, merges with Cliffe Dekker. |
| 2005 |
1 September 2005, Cliffe Dekker
becomes the exclusive member in South Africa of DLA Piper Group and part of
global legal services organisation, DLA Piper. |
| 2008 |
1 September 2008, Cliffe Dekker
and Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala merge to become Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, a
national firm with offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and a member of the
global DLA Piper Group. |
