Finance Monthly Legal Awards 2019 Winners Edition

71 www. finance-monthly .com FINANCE MONTHLY LEGAL AWARDS 2019 South Africa MARTIN VAN DER SCHYFF CONSTRUCTION LAWYER OF THE YEAR SOUTH AFRICA Tiefenthaler Attorneys ABOUT MARTIN VAN DER SCHYFF Martin’s practice focuses on rendering contentious and non-contentious legal services exclu- sively to the industries of construction, engineering, energy, technology, oil and gas. He is the partner in charge of a dedicated team involved with dispute resolution in relation to mega projects such as KPONE Power Station (Ghana), Morupule Power Station (Botswana), Medupi and Kusile Power Stations (South Africa) on an international platform through court and alter- native dispute resolution forums. Since 2018, he has expanded his team’s focus from rendering services merely within the borders of South Africa to providing our services to foreign domiciled clients globally. His primary objective is to achieve the best possible result through strategic planning while managing client’s expectations. Part of his role is to develop and maintain a relationship with clients based on mutual trust and professionalism through rendering services that adds value to our clients’ business. As with most construction projects, claims are instituted for various delays, disruptions and additional works (variations) and, while he strives to have its clients’ claims resolved amicably, a number of these claims are subjected to be resolved through litigation proceedings in court or alternative dispute resolution forums in, amongst oth- ers, the jurisdictions of Singapore (SIAC), France (ICC) and England (ICC). Notwithstanding the exposure to these international jurisdictions, he has maintained the firm’s original focus on local- ly based clients and continue to deal with their issues in dispute resolution forums on home soil. TIEFENTHALER ATTORNEYS Our practice was founded by Carlos Tiefenthaler who, having qualified as a civil engineer, quantity surveyor and lawyer, had a vision of establishing the first and only world-class legal practice in Africa providing specialised legal ser- vices to the engineering and construc- tion industries. Since our firm’s inception, we have deliberately refrained from becoming involved in legal work that isn’t related to the engineering and con- struction industries, choosing, instead, to become a true specialist in our cho- sen field. While other firms may have a “Construction Law” department, the sole focus of our practice has always been providing specialised legal services from our Johannesburg and Cape Town offices, led by 4 partners and supported by more than 22 professional staff, ex- clusively to the construction industry. Block B, Rivonia Close, 322 Rivonia Boulevard, Johannesburg, South Africa Tel: +27 11 807 0834 Block B (B3), Estuary Suites, 3 Oxbow Crescent, The Estuaries, Century City, Cape Town, South Africa Tel: +27 21 065 0183 Email: info@constructionlaw.co.za Web: www.constructionlaw.co.za