MEMBERS
B.Luris SA LL.B Natal LL.M Cantab PhD UKZN
Max du Plessis SC
Max has been an advocate since 2000. In addition to his practice in Durban, he is an associate tenant in Thulamela Chambers, Sandton, and associate tenant in Doughty Street Chambers, London, and for many years was associate fellow in international law at Chatham House, the Royal Institute for International Affairs, London. He combines practice and academic work and writing, and is currently an adjunct professor at both the University of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth. He is an honorary research fellow University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban) and a senior research associate at the Institute for Security Studies (Pretoria). In South Africa, Max practises in public law, human rights, international law, and competition law, appearing regularly before the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Appeal, High Courts, and the Competition Tribunal and Competition Appeal Court. As an international lawyer, he advises governments, international organizations and NGOs, and has appeared or advised on cases inter alia before the International Criminal Court, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, the SADC Tribunal, and the East African Court of Justice. On international law, he has been briefed to submit amicus curiae briefs before the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals, and the Israeli Supreme Court. Max is the lead or co-author of various textbooks, including Class Action Litigation in South Africa (2017), Constitutional Litigation in South Africa (2015), Civil Procedure (3rd edition - 2017), and International Law: A South African Perspective (2018 – 5th edition). As an academic, he has taught for many years as an associate professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and has been a visiting professor or scholar at inter alia Oxford University, Cambridge University, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the London School of Economics, the University of Sydney, and New York Law School. He is married with three children, and lives in Ballito.