Constitutional and administrative law governs the relationship between the state, the private sector, and the people. Our Constitution provides people in South Africa with fundamental human rights and freedoms that can be enforced both against the state and private parties, and it requires that the excercise of all public power must be lawful, reasonable, and procedurally fair.
Power & Associates assists clients who seek to hold public or private actors accountable for their actions and decision-making, and those who have been subjected to human rights violations or who seek the full realisation of their human rights and freedoms.
The environment is held in public trust for the people. The South African Constitution and international law ensures that everyone has the right to a clean and healthy environment and the right to have the environment protected for present and future generations. This includes measures to mitigate climate change, prevent pollution, promote conservation, and secure ecologically sustainable development.
Power & Associates assist clients on matters related to environmental and climate justice, implementing climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience strategies, and securing safe air and water quality.
Every person has the right to the equal protection and benefit of the law, which includes redressing historic injustice, challenging persistent inequality, and recognising and responding to intersecting forms of discrimination. Equally, the South African Constitution and international law seeks to empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all people, including the best interests of children, to ensure that everyone’s dignity is recognised and respected.
Power & Associates assists clients seeking to promote equality, inclusion, and the rights of children, and those seeking to challenge discrimination, inequality, and children’s rights violations.
Information rights and media law concerns the protection and promotion of the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, and access to information on- and offline, and safeguarding press freedom. This includes matters related to data protection, information communications technology, online platforms, sustainable and independent journalism, content moderation, censorship and surveillance, internet intermediaries, and online services.
Power & Associates assist clients in matters relating to information rights and the promotion of press freedom, including strategic and test case litigation, dispute resolution, representations before regulatory tribunals, regulatory compliance, preparing codes of ethics, vetting, and preparing submissions on proposed laws and policies.
Public international and regional law are the international rules that bind states and ensure universal human rights and coordinated action across borders. These laws set the international and regional standards which governments apply domestically.
Power & Associates assists clients with developing international and regional law through organs of the African Union, the United Nations, and international courts and tribunals.
Social enterprises and civil society organisations (CSOs) are central to sustainable and resilient development, access to resources, fostering inclusive economies, and holding public and private sector actors accountable. Through innovative business models and purpose-driven entrepreneurship which emphasise both social and economic factors, human rights, and inclusive opportunities, these organisations play a crucial role in promoting a more just and equitable world.
Power & Associates supports social enterprises and CSOs with establishment, registration, regulatory compliance and governance, and strategic development to ensure their resilience and sustainability and to enhance the impact of their socially-conscious models.