The core team are supported by professional and administrative personnel who have been carefully selected for their attention to detail and their alignment to the core values of the practice.
The Future Warriors Foundation is dedicated to providing financial support, mentorship and inspiration for aspiring young South African lawyers in their quest to find financial freedom and add value to their communities through a career in law
CRAIG
ASSHETON-SMITHDirector
Admitted as an attorney with this varied practice, Craig gained invaluable experience of the law practising as a professional legal assistant and was involved in commercial drafting, commercial litigation, restructures, insolvency enquiries and related litigation.
For six years Craig was Legal Counsel in a commercial environment being appointed as a member of the senior management team which first introduced the concept of managed health care in South Africa, which position required him to draft legal contracts and scheme rules, advise on legislative requirements and issues and be involved in submissions relating to the proposed Medical Scheme’s Act. The scheme rules were based on historic claim profiles and the legal wording had to be articulated to avoid disputes and reduce queries.
Thereafter Craig was appointed as Company Secretary/Legal Advisor for an offshore diamond mining group whose holding company was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and the Namibian Stock Exchange where his responsibilities were extensive and included:
When an operational accident occurred, and the company lost its mining capacity and was left without cash flow, Craig formulated the strategy for a structured liquidation and restructure of the group. A core team of senior management remained in the business to carry out the restructure and Craig led and managed the team and the processes and negotiations required to carry out the restructure.
The restructure took eight months to implement and was extremely complex with a number of stakeholders having differing requirements. Stakeholders included a consortium of banks, creditors, debenture holders and a new foreign shareholder. The restructure was successfully implemented, which resulted in the group coming out of liquidation and 29 million USD of funding procured in order to resume operations.
Armed with immense practical legal experience gained during the preceding years, Craig returned to private practise for his own account in 2002.
Craig has been rated on Legal 500 and in Chambers as one of the top South African lawyers in dispute resolution and listed in Best Lawyers 2012-2017, being awarded Best Lawyer – Litigation in 2018.
Craig has also been an Acting Judge of the High Court, and three of his judgments during his term were reported on “Saflii”.
ANDREW GINSBERGDirector
After completing a postgraduate LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Andrew relocated to Cape Town to join at a leading corporate practice in the litigation and dispute resolution department. Andrew was active in student politics whilst at Wits having been elected onto the Law Students Council and sitting as a student representative on the University’s disciplinary board.
Andrew was appointed, after completing his articles, as a professional assistant before joining Craig as a senior associate at Assheton-Smith Incorporated in 2012. Andrew became a Director of the firm in 2014 and has recently been made a named partner.
With a varied practice which is both a testament to his versatility as a practitioner and his interest in all aspects of the law and legal practice, Andrew has litigated in almost all of the local and provincial divisions of the High Court, has had several matters before the SCA, Labour Appeal Court and Competition Appeal Court. Andrew has run matters relating to commercial property, insurance, insolvency, complicated commercial and contractual disputes, delictual claims, commercial arbitrations, PAJA reviews, construction arbitrations and labour related mediations and arbitrations.
Andrew has also been involved in a number of large commercial transactions and is as comfortable in the boardroom as he is in the Courtroom.
Some of Andrew’s career highlights include:
Andrew’s methodical approach to any complicated legal question make him an invaluable asset to his clients.
Anne VenterSenior Associate
Well versed in the practices and processes of the Courts and meticulous in her case management, Anne attends to the drafting of court documents and preparation for trials including the extensive discovery processes.
Anne’s areas of experience include:
Alwyn ScholtzConsultant
Alwyn, a B.Com LLB graduate of the University of Pretoria, focuses on commercial law, and as such he has advised on, and attended to, the structuring, negotiating and implementing of mergers and acquisitions, including sale of shares and sale of businesses, black economic empowerment transactions with related financing, joint ventures, company formations, listings, de-listings and restructures, share incentive schemes, capital markets, general financing and security and the structuring of shareholder affairs. He also has extensive experience in funding and related security structures and in the structuring of mining and exploration ventures, in South Africa and a number of African countries.
After completing his articles at McRoberts Inc. Alwyn commenced his professional career at Goldman Judin & Werner in Sandton, focusing on property law and general commercial law. He then joined Glyn Marais Inc., a niche commercial law firm with offices in Sandton and Cape Town and was managing partner from 2004 until 2008. In 2010 Alwyn returned to practice for his own account and is one of the co-founding directors and shareholders in Probity Advisory Pty Ltd which focuses on general commercial, tax and corporate finance services.
Alwyn has held and continues to hold various executive and non-executive board appointments at listed companies.
Alwyn’s experience includes:
Acting for consortiums of SA Banks successfully advising on the refinancing and restructuring of the debt in large SA companies involving billions of rand, conducting legal due diligence, and negotiating and drafting the consortium and facility agreements.