Summary Profile
Alan Jeftha joined Cliffe Dekker on 1 July 2006. Alan was the Chairman
of Jeftha Twala Attorneys, a firm that he built up over a period of three years
as a leading wholly owned black empowering law firm and which offered a full
range of services in the corporate commercial sector, property and litigation.
Prior to this, Alan was a Senior Partner at Mallinicks.
With more than 23 years of experience, Alan developed from intellectual
property law and information technology into corporate and commercial law. As
an Intellectual Property lawyer, he served three periods of four years each as
an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) specialist on the Standing Advisory
Committee on Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright and Designs, advising the Minister
of Trade and Industry and Government on IPR law reform, the harmonisation of
South African law with the laws of other countries and the regulatory framework
as set by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the World
Trade Organisation (WTO). Alan has many years of practical experience of all
aspects of IPR and information technology, ranging from the registration of
such rights to the drafting of all kinds of agreements thereto as well as the
protection of such rights.
Alan has further corporate and commercial law experience in sectors such
as marine oil pollution, the energy and gas sector, broadcasting and media
(both radio and television), the advertising industry, tourism Public Private
Partnership (PPP) transactions and transport and logistics, including
cross-border transactions with specific reference to countries on the African
Continent. In this area he has project managed and co-ordinated cross-border
transactions, including the drafting of agreements between businesses in China,
Singapore, Botswana, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Government of
Southern Sudan and US business interests covering projects such as minerals and
metals, power plants, oil concession, timber concessions, cement and
foodstuffs.
Career
Alan began his career as a Candidate Attorney at Mallinick Ress Richman
& Closenberg in 1980, whereafter he was appointed a Professional Assistant
in 1982. In 1984 Alan was appointed a Director of Mallinicks until 2003 when he
started his own firm, Jeftha Twala as Director and Chairman. In 2006 Jeftha
Twala joined the practice of Cliffe Dekker where Alan remained a Director. In
September 2008 Alan became a Director of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.
Education/ Qualifications
BA LLB, University of the Western Cape
Date of admission: 1982
Experience
- Intellectual property rights and information technology law
- Marine oil pollution and response strategies
- Sports and entertainment law
- Cross-border transactions between South East Asian countries, e.g.
China, Singapore, and African countries for minerals and metals, power plants,
oil and gas concessions, timber concessions
- Transaction legal advisor work in respect of Tourism PPP agreements
at De Hoop in the Western Cape and Mkambati in the Eastern Cape
- Advised Toyota Japan with regard to acquisition by it of shareholding
of Toyota South Africa
- Advised and assisted M-Web with regard to licensing agreements and
with regard to information technology licence with Compuserve, Ohio, USA
- Advised and represented Prima Toys on management of trade mark
portfolio
- Represented Biggie Best with registration of local and international
trade marks
- Registered Three-D inverse perspective technology as a patent,
attending to worldwide registration of such patent for company Three-D Signs
(Pty) Limited, of which Alan is a Director, and the development and export of
such technology on a worldwide basis and which technology is today seen on the
field of play in sporting arenas throughout the world
- Advised I&J on licensing structures and protection and
development of I&J trade marks and brands
- Advised Meerlust on worldwide trade mark developments and
protection
- Advised SABC on corporatisation from state-owned entity into a
company under the Broadcasting Act and the Companies Act
- Advised and assisted SABC in a large number of transactions
pertaining to the SABC broadcast platform, amongst others:
- its information technology management systems
- satellite broadcasting transactions
- extensive licensing agreements, television broadcasting
agreements
- a range of media law, freedom of expression and constitutional
law issues pertaining to SABC's position as a public broadcaster and also
advising SABC journalists
- Advised SA Rugby on contracts with Jake White, Gert Smal, Alister
Coetzee and the Springbok rugby contracts
- Assisted SA Rugby on a range of sports law matters amongst others
agency agreements, disputes with rugby players, e.g. Victor Matfield, Christo
Bezuidenhout, Richard Bands
