He has over 15 years' experience in the Oil & Gas, Mining & Minerals, Energy & Power, Infrastructure & Transport, Government & State-Owned Sectors having represented governments, state-owned entities and private commercial parties and investors in complex disputes providing dispute prevention, dispute avoidance and dispute resolution services and providing advisory work on projects and/or transactional matters. He has developed depth of skills and experience in oil and gas laws, energy laws, mining laws, constitutional and general public law matters, public procurement and public finance law, international arbitration law, public international law, international investment law, international trade law, climate change laws.

Jackwell as the Sector Head: Industrials, Manufacturing & Trade, works closely with several of CDH's leading professionals in consolidating CDH's services in, amongst others, heavy industries and future industries such as clean hydrogen, e-mobility, robotics & automation.

The Industrials, Manufacturing & Trade Sector of CDH was born from the need to provide our clients with a dedicated service to economic industries that, amongst others, require to decarbonise flowing from industries such as mining and minerals, energy and power, Oil & Gas and other natural resources industries that will be the catalyst for the industrialisation of Africa under the African Continental Free Trade Area. For more details on the Industrials, Manufacturing & Trade sector please click here.

Jackwell's experience includes amongst others: 

Policy, Law & Regulatory

• Advise clients on various policy, regulatory and licensing matters relating to energy laws such as the various Integrated Resource Plan(s) and Integrated Energy Plan in South Africa, the generation and related licencing regimes and requirements, sovereign guarantees and related public finance matters for IPP projects, public procurement matters relating to IPP projects, other regulatory and contractual matters flowing from implementation agreements, power purchase agreement and other power project agreements, environmental appeals and review applications relating to proposed nuclear projects and proposed gas-to-power projects.
• Advise clients on various policy, regulatory and licencing matters relating to the mining laws in South Africa on, amongst others, public participation matters in mining development, local content and supplier development matters, B-BBEE and related mining charter matters, domestic and international issues around strategic minerals, objections and appeals in respect of prospecting and mining rights.
• Advise clients on various policy, regulatory and Oil & Gas licensing matters on, amongst others, petroleum manufacturing/refining, petroleum wholesale and retailing, bulk storage and handling for petroleum and gas, local content and supplier development requirements, import and export requirements for petroleum products.
• Advised national electricity state-owned company on its nuclear new build programme in relation to, amongst others, procurement and public finance matters, the project development and regulatory matters in relation to the proposed nuclear installation.
• Advised various clients (both public and private) on proposed legislative amendments and/or new developments to legislation/regulations regulating the mining, energy and Oil & Gas industries, the infrastructure and transport sector, including the general investment law framework.
• Advised various clients on policy, law and regulatory matters relating to projects in the mining and energy sectors in relation to a) clean coal project: integrated underground coal gasification development for the production of blue hydrogen in South Africa, b) re-development of a processing facility for residue stockpile of gold and uranium, c) expansion of coal mining operations for Eskom tied-collieries.
• Advise on policy, law and regulatory matters relating to rail transport infrastructure in Gauteng, funding and related models, climate change, carbon pricing/tax policies and green transportation to meet decarbonization requirements.
• Advised various clients on domestic investment policy and law, international investment law and public international law matters on:
  • investment structuring & risk mitigation
  • political risk assessments
  • merit assessments of investment claims
  • expropriation and nationalisation of investments, fair and equitable treatment, most favoured nation and developing investment law principles
  • work relating to investor-state disputes.

Dispute Resolution

• Represented parties in various complex arbitrations under various arbitration Rules (AFSA, ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL) and litigation proceedings flowing from, amongst others, supply agreements, off-take agreements, sale and purchase agreements, acquisition agreements, franchise agreements, contract mining agreements, production sharing agreements, bulk storage and supply agreements, shareholders agreements.
• Represented governments, state-owned entities in complex regulatory appeal proceedings, litigation and arbitrations proceedings relating to, amongst others, international technical nuclear co-operation agreements, nuclear policy and law, mining investment/funding agreements, public finance matters, environmental and climate change matters, national government funding programmes.
• Represented commercial parties in various cross-border disputes in the Southern African region in South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, DRC, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
• Judicial review proceedings (either as representative of applicant or co-respondent with state) relating to various regulatory measures by the host governments in various economic sectors flowing from by policy, legal and/or regulatory measures or procurement matters.
• Enforcement proceedings of arbitral awards.

• The Legal 500 EMEA 2022 recommended Jackwell for dispute resolution.
• Jackwell Feris is a recipient of The Africa's 50 Most promising Young Arbitration Practitioner 2020 Award. He is recognised by The Association of Young Arbitrators (AYA) as an expert Arbitration Practitioner who is passionate about the growth and development of International Investment and Commercial Arbitration in Africa.

Education

• LLB, North West University, Potchefstroom: 2005
• Admitted as attorney and notary public: 2008
• LLM in Corporate Law, University of the Witwatersrand: 2012
• Certificate in Economics for Law, University of the Witwatersrand: 2015
• Certificate in International Commercial Arbitration, Washington College of Law: 2017
• Attended and completed the International Investment Treaties and Investor State Arbitration Seminar, International Law Institute: 2017

Memberships

• Director and Executive Member of the Underground Coal Gasification Association of South Africa
• Member of the Fossil Fuel Foundation and South African Oil & Gas Alliance
• Member of the African Arbitration Association