| Bob Williams is many
things - a professor of law, the author of many significant
legal textbooks and articles, and a long-time consultant
in corporate, tax and trust law. Bob is fairly unique
in that his relish for legal theory is matched by his
enjoyment in the practical application of legal principles
to clients' problems. We found out more about this multi-faceted
lawyer over a cup of coffee …
I
like commercial law because it allows for highly creative
problem solving. Clients come to you
with a problem and there are no clear-cut, obvious answers.
Complex analysis throws up a range of options. The merits
and demerits of each option need to be critically assessed
and a recommendation made. Unlike attorneys litigating
over a car accident, you are unconstrained by the facts;
by who jumped which red robot. You can, to a large extent,
create your own facts by structuring transactions in
a way that supports your client's strategy.
In
1978 things looked bleak for South Africa and I left
for Australia. I had, by that time,
served articles in Cape Town and been a partner at Edward
Nathan and Friedland in Johannesburg for five years.
I lectured and consulted in Australia and Hong Kong
for ten years, but by 1988 things were changing in South
Africa and I decided to come back. I was offered a professional
post at the University of Natal, as it then was. I have
now retired from full-time lecturing and consult with
Venn Nemeth and Hart, but I still lecture company law
and tax courses at the University.
|
Staying
on the cutting edge of new case law is very rewarding.
I enjoy reading the law reports, which
record significant judgements made by our courts each
month. Much of my work involves tracking the development
of our law, as the courts develop and extend legal principles
to deal with new circumstances.
My
writing career began during my LLB when I submitted
an essay for an inter-varsity writing competition. I
wrote on pacta successoria - a particularly dusty area
of law dealing with agreements to bequeath one's estate
to a particular person - but it got me published. I
was soon submitting articles to legal journals and have
not stopped since. I suppose that what I really enjoy
about writing is the opportunity to organise a complex
area of the law by suggesting which legal principles
should apply.
The
practical application of theory is important to me.
I have always had a consulting practice - the University
encourages consulting so that academics can add a practical
edge to their research and lecturing. So re-entering
formal legal practice at Venn Nemeth and Hart has, in
a sense, been an extension of a long-standing interest
- the practical application of the theory with which
I have been working for more than thirty years. |
ffee
with bob
