Corporate Commercial
Corporate Forensics
Insolvency, Business Rescue & Restructuring
Labour
Law
Litigation & Alternative Dispute Resolution
Data Privacy & Protection
Combining exceptional legal expertise and business acumen Richters provides clients with sound practical advice on all the legal aspects of doing business within the prevailing corporate and commercial legal and – regulatory framework.
Richters has advised clients on all aspects of structuring, negotiating, transactional documents, deal implementation and managing the legal risk arising therefrom on a broad spectrum of successfully concluded high level deals.
Our broad spectrum of corporate, commercial and deal advisory services, include the following:
- Commercial Advisory
- Commercial Contracts
- Corporate Advisory
- Corporate Formations, Structuring and Documents of Implementation.
- Corporate Restructuring
- Deal making & Transactional Advisory Services.
- IT Law, Business Processes & Legal Compliance.
Commercial Crimes and Investigations with focus on prevention, mitigating risk, prosecuting perpetrators, and instituting legal action for loss recovery.
Commercial crime and cyber-attacks are a corporate reality, rapidly escalating in South Africa. As such it creates a real business risk to businesses that have not implemented the requisite risk prevention and – mitigation strategy to proactively combat the increasingly sophisticated tactics used by perpetrators. Through our vast legal expertise gained in high level national and multi-national forensic investigations, we have developed an in-depth practical understanding of the legal complexities of commercial and financial crimes, investigations, enquiries, and the subsequent litigation for recovery. This underscores our ability to manage ongoing risk and ensure a successful outcome.
Our broad spectrum of corporate forensic services include the following:
- Business assessment and identification of key business risk factors.
- Corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
- Developing preventative compliance plans and strategies – prevention and detection of specialised commercial crime perpetrated by internal and/or external perpetrators.
- Employee fraud and theft.
- Forensic Investigations and enquiries.
- Institution of legal action against relevant parties for loss recovery.
- Prosecuting of perpetrators – assisting the SAPS and the NPA.
We are renowned for being specialist Insolvency, Business Rescue and Restructuring lawyers – this is our forte!
We have acted in and advised on various large and complex insolvencies, business rescues and restructurings. As such we have the requisite expertise and experience to advise and assist our clients to operate their business through challenging times by proactively managing financial risk and exposure. When the going gets tough for our clients, we have the reputation for proactively “getting going” with developing and implementing a client specific corporate recovery strategy to mitigate risk and ensure the best possible commercial outcome.
What is?
Insolvency
Insolvency occurs when a financially distressed legal entity is unable to pay its debts in the normal course (i.e. commercial insolvency); or its liabilities exceeds its assets (i.e. de facto or accounting insolvency). Where restructuring options have been exhausted and business rescue is not a viable or recommended option, liquidation is normally required in order to protect the interest of stake holders.
Business Rescue
The term “Business Rescue” within the context of South African law is defined in section 128(1)(b) of the Companies Act, 71 of 2008 (‘the Act’’) as “proceedings to facilitate the rehabilitation of a company that is financially distressed “.
The provisions of the Act during the business proceedings, aids the rescue of the company formally placed under business rescue, with aim to achieve one of the two following statutory defined objectives:
- To restructure the affairs of the company in an attempt to ensure that the company continues in existence on a solvent basis; or
- If it is not possible for the company to so continue in existence, that the business rescue results in a better return for the company’s creditors and shareholders than would ordinarily result from the immediate liquidation of the company.
Restructuring
Restructuring within context is a pre-emptive action taken by a financially distressed company to significantly modify its existing operational and financial model to mitigate financial risk and improve the profits derived from its business.
Insolvency
We have acted for and advise all relevant stakeholders including directors, shareholders, prescribed officers, debtors, creditors, company auditors, parties subpoenaed to liquidation proceedings, liquidators, and insolvency practioners at the various stages of and on all facets of the insolvency and winding-up process.
We offer the full spectrum of insolvency services, including:
- Acting in and advising on all aspects of liquidations, receiverships, and administrations.
- Advising on the commencement of liquidation proceedings.
- Advising on the effects of insolvency on transactions and contracts
- Advising on all employment-related aspects of insolvency.
- Advising on and structuring transactions to mitigate insolvency risk.
- Advising on impeachable transactions, reckless trading, directors’ duties and obligations and personal liability.
- Audit of collateral securities and the enforcement thereof.
- Convening, Preparing and Conducting Insolvency Enquiries and Interrogations.
- Debt recovery
- Insolvency related viability assessments, forensic investigations, and due diligence excercises.
- Insolvency related litigation and applications to Court.
- Schemes of arrangement and offers of compromise.
Business Rescue
We offer the full spectrum of business rescue services, including:
- Assessment of and advice to a financially distressed company whether it should enter into business rescue and regarding all the facets of the business rescue process.
- Advising business rescue practioners and financially distressed companies at the various stages and on all the aspects of a business rescue.
- Advising the creditors, directors, shareholders or employees of company in business rescue.
- Advising potential funders of a company in business rescue or parties that want to conclude a transaction with company in business rescue.
- Business rescue related litigation and all applications to Court.
Restructuring
We offer distressed businesses the full spectrum of corporate restructuring services, including:
- Advising on all stages and aspects of formal legal procedures such as inter alia business rescue, liquidations, and schemes of arrangement.
- Advising on and assisting with the preparation and implementation of a corporate recovery plan.
- Advising on all employment related aspects of corporate and/or operational restructuring.
- Assessment of and advice on business risk factors, risk mitigation strategy and contingency planning.
- Business restructuring related litigation and all applications to Court.
- Capital raising and restructuring.
- Capital recovery and enforcement.
- Debt restructuring and securitisation.
Being able to effectively manage people, the complex relationship between employers, employees, trade unions and the other relevant multiple labour-related stake holders and intricate labour related processes within the ambits of our prevailing labour law is key to running a successful business. We have the expertise to assist our clients in effectively managing these complex relationships and processes.
Labour law in essence can be divided into two distinct categories:
Collective Employment Law
The law dealing with the relationship between multiple labour related stakeholders such as employees, employers, trade unions and bargaining councils.
Individual Employment Law
The law dealing with individual employment matters.
Collective Employment Law
We offer a broad spectrum of collective employment law services, including:
- Advising on and assisting with labour strategies, wage negotiations, demarcation disputes, picketing, strikes, lock-outs, go slows etc.
- Assisting, engaging, and negotiating with trade unions and bargaining councils.
- Assisting with the drafting and vetting of collective agreements.
- Collective employment law related litigation and all applications to Court including urgent interdicts.
Individual Employment Law
We offer a broad spectrum of individual employment law services, including:
- Drafting and negotiating employment contracts for all levels of employees.
- Drafting and enforcement of non-circumvention and non-disclosure agreements and restraints of trade.
- Drafting and Implementation of employment policies and procedures.
- Disciplinary hearings
- Advice on matters related to unfair labour practice and unfair dismissals.
- Advice on the employment related aspects of liquidations, business rescues, corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and sale of a business as going concern.
- Advice on all matters relating to retrenchments and work force reductions.
- Advice on all matters relating to employment equity.
- Advice on matters related to performance management, privacy law, access to information, discrimination law, data protection and social media.
Commercial legal disputes are unfortunately part of the reality of doing business. It is therefore of the upmost importance to proactively implement the appropriate dispute resolution strategy and process to ensure that the business risk associated with a dispute is correctly and efficiently managed.
Litigation is the act, process, or practice of resolving a dispute through formal traditional court structures. Alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) methods are used to resolve disputes outside or in addition to the formal traditional court structures. Arbitration and mediation are the most common forms of ADR. Parties are increasingly reverting to ADR to resolve complex disputes outside the ambits of the formal court structures because of benefit considerations such a costs, confidentiality, convenience, professional expertise, and procedural efficiencies bringing about an expedited swift resolve.
Adhering to the old proverbial saying “Justice delayed is justice denied”, we are renowned for our robust results-driven dispute resolution approach, with focus on defining and implementing a bespoke dispute-specific resolution strategy, quick turnaround times and efficiencies. Over the years, we have successfully resolved various high value commercial disputes relating to a broad spectrum of complex issues for various national and international blue-chip clients by litigating in the various fora and through ADR.
We have the expertise and experience to act in and advise at the various stages of and on all aspects of commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution, including:
- Advising on and assisting clients with all aspects, procedures and at all stages of alternative dispute resolution processes prior to and after commencement.
- Advising on and representing clients in settlement negotiations.
- Advising clients who are plaintiffs, defendants, applicants, respondents or interested third parties on all aspects, procedures and at all stages of litigation prior to and after commencement.
- Representing clients in arbitrations.
- Representing clients in various courts including the High Court, the Labour Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal, and the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
- Representing clients at various regulatory bodies, tribunals and statutory ombuds.
We have attorneys who specialise in data privacy and data protection, with specialisation in cybersecurity and data breach response, as well as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Our broad spectrum data privacy and data protection services include the following:
- Data protection advice, including related agreements, policies and procedure documents.
- Preparation and implementation of comprehensive incident response plans. Training of staff, management and information officers on POPIA.
- Privacy advice
Have questions?
Feel free to contact our firm manager for more information.