LLB (UKZN) cum laude; LLM in Shipping Law (UCT) with distinction
Attorney and Notary Public of the High Court of South Africa
Lecturer in Commercial Law, University of Cape Town
Member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers
PhD Title
Applied Contract Theory and the Legal Regulation of Marine Insurance Contracts: The Case of Risk Control Terms and Contracting Out under the Insurance Act 2015.
Background - PhD
Insurance contract law is in a state of flux, having undergone a period of substantial reform. The English and Scottish Law Commissions commenced the period of reform in 2006 and this resulted in two core statutes: the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 and the Insurance Act 2015 (‘the 2015 Act’). Both statutes sought to amend various aspects of the law of insurance, but this thesis is limited to the reforms pertaining to warranties, risk control terms, and contracting out in the 2015 Act. Contemporary scholarship has focused primarily on the substantive changes to the law. This thesis goes further by grounding the substantive law analysis in the context of applied contract theory, specifically the (neo) formalist-contextualist debate. It aims to analyse the type of regulation that governs marine insurance and the suitability of such regulation for these types of markets. In doing so,it provides an important new normative perspective for the 2015 Act, specifically in relation to commercial marine insurance contracts.
Research Interests
Commercial Contracts; Maritime Law; (Marine) Insurance Contract Law; Contract Law; Contract Theory
Contact details
Publications
2020 (forthcoming) ‘From the Book of Lading to Blockchain Bills of Lading: Dynamic Merchant Traditions and Private Ordering', in Andrew Hutchinson and Franciska Myburgh (eds), Research Handbook on International Commercial Contracts, Edward Elgar Publishing.
2015, ‘The Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007: Sinking or Salvaging South Africa’s Wreck Removal Legislation?’ (132) 4 South African Law Journal 849-876.
2015, ‘Revisiting the South African (Marine) Insurance Warranty against the English Insurance Act and the Nordic Marine Insurance Pan of 2013: Viking Inshore Shipping (Pty) Ltd v Mutual and Federal Insurance Company’ 27(3) South African Mercantile Law Journal 560-576.
Conference appearances as a speaker
2019, Koç University, Symposium on Differential Treatment in Insurance Law: Collateral Damage?, Paper on ‘Apples and Apples or Apples and Oranges? Treating Commercial Parties Differently under the Insurance Act 2015’.
2019, University of Southampton, Anglo-Chinese Maritime Law & Practice in Transition IV, Paper on ‘From the Book of Lading to Blockchain Bills of Lading: Dynamic Merchant Tradition and Private Ordering’ (forthcoming)
2018, The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS London), The Future of the Commercial Contract, Paper on ‘Consumer Protection in Modern Commercial Insurance Contract Law’.
2018, City University, London, The Ninth Maritime Law & Policy International Postgraduate Conference, ‘Regulating Marine Insurance Contracts after the Insurance Act 2015’.
2018, Durham University, PGR Conference in Commercial Law, ‘Consumer Protection in Modern Commercial Insurance Contract Law’.
2018, University of Sassari, 6th edition of Transport Law de Lege Ferenda, ‘Held Covered Clauses and Contracting Out’.
2018, Venice, The International Research Seminar in Maritime, Port and Transport Law, ‘Altering Rules in Marine Insurance: Held Covered Clauses and Contracting Out’.
2018, Queen Mary University London, The Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference - Contract, Consumer and Commercial Law section, ‘A Consumerist Approach to Modern Commercial Insurance Contract Law’.
2017, University College Dublin, The Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference - Contract, Consumer and Commercial Law section, ‘Modern Contract Theory and Evolving Values in Commercial Insurance Contract Law’.
2017, Koç University Law School, Younger Comparativists Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law 6th Annual Conference, Organised a panel session on ‘Contemporary Challenges to Commercial Insurance Contract Law’.
2017, University College London, Early Career Researchers’ Conference, ‘Modern Contract Theory and Evolving Values in Commercial Insurance Contract Law’.
2016, Oxford University, The Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference - Contract, Consumer and Commercial Law section, ‘The Insurance Act 2015: Reflections on Statutory Interpretation and Evolving Values in Insurance Contract Law’.
2016, Queen Mary University London, Early Career Researchers’ Conference, ‘Risk Mitigation Terms and Causation under the Insurance Act 2015’.
2015, McGill University - Fourth Worldwide Congress of the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists, ‘Legislative Reform of Marine Insurance Contract Law in South Africa’.