Director.
Michael Power.
Michael is a Director and Co-founder of Power & Associates.
Recent work.
Presenting a series of written and oral submissions to the Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry initiated by South Africa’s Competition Commission.
Appearing before the Constitutional Court of South Africa in cases concerning access to information for people with visual and print disabilities, and the surveillance of journalists.
Preparing a series of legal frameworks for the participation of civil society organisations in the work of the African Union.
Supporting litigation at the European Court of Human Rights on the right to privacy.
Amplifying voices for change.
About Michael.
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Michael is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa (with Right of Appearance) and a Director and Co-founder of Power & Associates.
He holds B.A., LL.B. (with Distinction), and LL.M. in Public International Law (with Distinction) degrees from the University of Witwatersrand, and a Certificate in International Trade Regulation from the World Trade Institute, University of Bern. He is also an Executive M.B.A. candidate at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town.
Michael specialises in litigation and dispute resolution, legal advisory, research and policy development, and law reform in the areas of constitutional and administrative law, information rights and media law, environmental and sustainability law, international law, and social enterprise and CSO law.
He has a specific interest in strategic and test case litigation, the development and implementation of international, regional, and domestic human rights-related laws and policies, and advising on rights-based tools, strategies, and systems to achieve public interest outcomes and sustain public interest organisations.
Michael has represented and advised individuals, activists, journalists, publishers, social enterprises and civil society organisations, philanthropic organisations, and international and multilateral institutions, which include various agencies of the United Nations and organs of the African Union. He has appeared before multiple courts and tribunals in South Africa, including the Constitutional Court, multiple divisions of the High Court, the Competition Commission, and the Press Council, and he has engaged with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the United Nations Human Rights Committee and Council. He has also supported litigation at the European Court of Human Rights.
Michael is also a Director and Co-founder of ALT Advisory (2017-), a public interest advisory and research firm which works in association with Power & Associates, and currently acts as an adviser to the International Network of Civil Liberties Organisations (INCLO) in its Civic Space thematic area.
Before forming Power & Associates, Michael practised constitutional and international law at the Legal Resources Centre (2012-14; 2015-17), and he clerked at the Constitutional Court of South Africa (2014, Justices Bess Nkabinde and Steven Majiedt) and the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Johannesburg (2011, Justice Kathleen Satchwell).
Working for a sustainable future.
Team.
