What does the monthly fee actually cover?

The scope set out in your chosen tier, executed by senior commercial attorneys. The fee covers our time, our judgement and our availability. It is not a deposit against hours. Disbursements (CIPC fees, sheriff and court fees, briefing of counsel where required) are billed at cost. VAT applies.

What happens if a matter falls outside the retainer scope?

We will tell you before any work begins, with an estimate and a clear basis for the fee. Typical examples include contested litigation, complex tax structuring or significant M&A execution. Embedded clients receive discounted rates on overflow work; Essential and Advisory clients are quoted at our standard commercial rate.

How long do I have to commit?

A one-month notice period after an initial three-month engagement. We are not interested in retaining a client who is not getting value, and the retainer is built to prove itself in the first quarter.

Who actually does the work?

A named primary attorney is allocated to your business and is your single point of contact. From Advisory upwards, a secondary attorney is named to provide continuity for leave, capacity and conflict cover. Junior support is used for administration only, never for advice.

How do you handle conflicts of interest?

We run a full conflict check before the engagement letter is signed. Where we act for businesses in the same sector, we will tell you upfront so you can decide whether to proceed. We will not act against a current retainer client, and we ringfence sensitive matters internally where appropriate.

Can I move between tiers?

At any time, with one month's notice. Most clients start at Essential or Advisory and move up as the business scales. We will also tell you when we think you are paying for more than you need - the retainer should match your business, not the other way around.

What is not included?

Court appearances, formal litigation, heads of argument, complex tax opinions, BEE verification audits and forensic investigations are not included. These are quoted separately or, for Embedded clients, managed at the discounted overflow rate.

Insights

Newsletter16 April 2026

The workplace moved. Did your policies?

From the Van Wyk parental leave ruling to AI tools and hybrid work, most employee handbooks are out of date. We are offering a complimentary policy health check.

The workplace moved. Did your policies?

The workplace your handbook was drafted for doesn't really exist anymore.

Your team is using Midjourney for mood boards and ChatGPT for first-draft decks. Half of them are working from Kalk Bay on a Wednesday. Someone just posted a strong opinion about a client on their personal LinkedIn. And in October last year, the Constitutional Court quietly rewrote the parental leave rules for every employer in South Africa.

A lot has shifted. Most policies haven't.

In the last twelve months alone:

The BCEA parental leave regime changed overnight following Van Wyk. All parents, biological, adoptive and commissioning, now share four months and ten days of leave. If your handbook still speaks in old "maternity" and "paternity" terms, it is out of date and potentially discriminatory.
AI tools have moved from novelty to daily practice across most creative teams, yet very few agencies have a formal position on what can be fed into them, what must be disclosed to clients, or who owns the output.
Remote and hybrid working is now the default rather than the exception, but most handbooks still treat it like a temporary lockdown arrangement.
POPIA enforcement has sharpened, and the Information Regulator is issuing fines.
The Employment Equity amendments changed the designated employer test from 1 January 2025, and the new sectoral targets are in force through to 2030.

If you haven't looked at your employee handbook since the pandemic, it is due a proper once over.

We are offering agency clients a complimentary policy health check. You complete a short questionnaire, we flag the gaps, and we tell you what needs updating and why. No commitment to a drafting mandate on the back of it, and no legalese on the way through.

If you'd like us to send it across, hit reply and we'll get it to you!

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