Ms Tshepo Shabangu > Spoor & Fisher > Pretoria, South Africa > Lawyer Profile

Ms Tshepo Shabangu

+27 12 676 1126 t.shabangu@spoor.com View profile View profile View profile View profile

Work Department

Trade mark Prosecution

Position

Tshepo is a partner at Spoor & Fisher. She deals with the local and international selection, clearance, prosecution and registration of trade marks. She also has expertise in trade mark audits, IP portfolio management and due diligence investigations, as well as drafting IP related agreements and policies. She has extensive knowledge in corporate governance, having sat on boards of various trusts and companies. 

Career

Professional activities

Tshepo made history when she became the first black person to be elected as President of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law and the first person to be re-elected to that position.

Tshepo sat on the Council of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces, the body regulating attorneys and the SAIIPL.

Council representative of the Law Society of South Africa on the IBA Council.

Member of the Steering Committee and task force of the IBA’s Presidential task force on the future of legal services.

Member of the 2018 IBA Presidential task force on cybersecurity and contributed to the published IBA Cyber Security Guidelines.

Co-author of the Traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and folklore chapter of Dean & Dyer: Intellectual Property Law in South Africa.

Addressed the portfolio committee of Trade and Industry in South Africa Parliament, regarding the Traditional Knowledge Bill that was subsequently passed into law.

Co-authored the History of trade marks in South Africa chapter in A History of Brands and Branding: From Groot Constantia to Google 1685 to 2010 (Affinity Advertising & Publishing), 2011.

Invited by Shanghai Intellectual Property Association (SIPA) to attend and address the delegates at the 9th Shanghai IP Forum on the soft power of cities.

Invited by the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI) to attend and present at a seminar on Specialised Intellectual Property Courts in Washington DC 

Market Recognition

Tshepo has been named as one of WIPR’s Influential Women in IP 2019.

Legal 500 EMEA ranks Tshepo as one of South Africa’s Intellectual Property Law experts 2019.

Best Lawyers listed Tshepo as a ‘Best Lawyer’ in Intellectual Property Law in South Africa 2018 – 2021.

Best Women in Law Award (IP) – Woza Women in Law Awards, 2019

Law Professional of the Year – The SA Professional Services Awards (SAPSA), 2019-2020 

Languages

English, German

Memberships

Member of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL) .

Member of the Corporate Counsel Association of South Africa (CCASA).

Member of the European Community Trade Marks Association (ECTA).

Member of the International Bar Association (IBA).

Member of the National Bar Association (NBA).

Member of the Black Lawyers Association.

Member of the German Chamber of Commerce.

Member of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce.

Member of the Legal Practice Council (LPC).

Member of the Institute of Directors 

Education

BProc, LLB (University of KwaZulu-Natal) LLM magna cum laude (University of Bonn, Germany). Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and Notary Public.