Newmans Row

International Arbitrator and Mediator

International Arbitrator and Mediator

Dennis completed a dual Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degree with high academic distinction the University of Cape Town, later completing a Master of Philosophy at Cambridge University. In addition, he was awarded two honorary LLD degrees from the University of Cape Town and Free State University. He was appointed to personal chair of Commercial Law in 1989, in 1998 he became a Judge of the High Court, and the President of the Competition Appeal Court in 2000. He is considered “One of South Africa's most respected legal minds”.

As a member of the Bar since 1997 practice included labour law, constitutional law, tax law and administrative law. He’ was legal advisor to South Africa’s largest insurance company until 1977 when he became Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town until 1989. During the next decade Dennis was the legal, tax, commercial consultant to Investec Bank assisting the corporate finance department and offshore corporate structures whilst maintaining a mostly academic career. He was elevated to the Director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at the University of Witwatersrand until 1998. CALS was an important institution in the drafting of the democratic constitution for South Arica and it was during this period that Dennis drafted the Electoral Act.

In 1998 Dennis was elevated to the High Court of South Africa having being appointed to a position by President Nelson Mandela. In 2000, he was appointed as the Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court of South Africa a post held until 2020 upon retirement. In addition, he was the longest servicing member of Labour Appeal Court from 2000 to 2020 as well as on the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2019 and 2020. During this period he wrote more than 200 reported judgments.

In 2023 he was appointed Chair of the Companies Tribunal of South Africa, a body that adjudicates on all manner of company law disputes. In the same year he was appointed as a judge of the Appellate Court of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement Appellate Body.

During Dennis’ very established career, he has published more than 200 articles; twelve books, the latest of which is Deliberation, Democracy or Degradation. He drafted the 2008 Companies Act; 1998 Competition Act of South Africa; advised the government on trade law, intellectual property law, insurance law and taxation of which he was the chair of the Davis Tax Commission appointed to investigate the structure of South African tax and prior thereto Deputy Chair of the Katz Commission; appointed by President Mandela after democracy to the reconstitute the tax system for South Africa and advised the UN on Iraqi Constitution.

Although private commercial arbitrations are typically confidential, Judge Davis is famous for several landmark cases that defined the jurisdiction and scope of South African arbitration and regulatory bodies such as Kylie v CCMA; Nationalwide Poles v Sasol and the Mittal excessive pricing case.

Since retiring from the bench Dennis has been called upon on occasion to judge in the Competition Appeal Court and the Labour Appeal Court. Has been involved in complex commercial arbitrations within South Africa and conducted training for judges throughout Africa. On three separate occasions he has addressed the OECD on issues dealing with competition, anti trust law and continues to teach at the University of Cape Town and the University of Western Cape in the areas of competition law, jurisprudence, company law, taxation and occasional lectures on administrative law. He has been a visiting Professor at the Universities of Harvard, New York, Georgetown, Melbourne and has taught at Cambridge University.

English