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John Webber to head Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr’s award-winning Real Estate Practice

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John Webber to head Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr’s award-winning Real Estate Practice

Leading corporate and commercial law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) has promoted the highly experienced John Webber to head up its Real Estate Practice.

8 May 2017 2 min read Corporate Alert Article

A doyen of real estate law in the country, Attie Pretorius, has until now occupied dual roles of National Practice Head of Real Estate and Chairman of the firm.

“Attie, who has 37 years of experience in this field, will remain a key resource for us as we continue to deliver solutions that matter. Our real estate team is externally praised for its depth of resources, capabilities and experience and we will continue to drive the highest standards of expertise and innovation, enabling clients to achieve the best possible outcomes in real estate law,” says Webber.

Chambers Global 2017 ranked both our practice and Attie in band 1: real estate. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Real Estate Law at the inaugural SA Professional Services Awards 2014, while Legal 500 EMEA 2014–2016 ranked Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr in Tier 1 for real estate.

John began his career in Bloemfontein before moving to Johannesburg to join EFK Tucker as head of their Conveyancing department. In November 2000 he joined Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr) as an Associate, was promoted to Senior Associate in 2001 and became a Director in 2003.

He specialises in commercial property, low cost and affordable housing development and among recent achievements attended to the establishment of in excess of 75 new townships which includes more than 34,000 erven. New township includes all of the townships created in the Waterfall mixed use development in Midrand.

John also acted on behalf of both the Provincial Government: Gauteng and private developers in the delivery of RDP houses and has attended to more than 12,500 transfers to beneficiaries of new houses in terms of the RDP housing subsidy scheme.

“Property law is an evolving, but complex field and the highest levels of cross-functional expertise are needed as demand for sophisticated transactional arrangements increases. Our real estate practice is therefore highly sought after as we continue to assist clients to successfully navigate these complexities, with strong leaders like John at the helm to drive growth and innovation, I wish him well in his new role and look forward to CDH further enhancing its reputation as one of the top firms in the country, placing client interests at the heart of everything it does,” says Pretorius.

CDH’s CEO, Brent Williams, agrees: “John’s responsiveness and dedication to our clients, together with his commercial mind-set and innate leadership abilities, makes him a natural choice to succeed Attie as National Practice Head. We know he will continue to make significant strides and build on the prodigious legacy created by Attie. As a firm, we express our immense gratitude to Attie for his pioneering leadership, acumen and grit.” 

The information and material published on this website is provided for general purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We make every effort to ensure that the content is updated regularly and to offer the most current and accurate information. Please consult one of our lawyers on any specific legal problem or matter. We accept no responsibility for any loss or damage, whether direct or consequential, which may arise from reliance on the information contained in these pages. Please refer to our full terms and conditions. Copyright © 2024 Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr. All rights reserved. For permission to reproduce an article or publication, please contact us cliffedekkerhofmeyr@cdhlegal.com.

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