Professional background and experience:

André Oosthuizen qualified as an attorney in 1979 and was admitted as an Advocate in 1981. He served on the Executive Committees of the Sports Law Association, SASLAW Western Cape, the Western Cape Sports Arbitration Forum and the Municipal Law Forum. Andre completed the Advanced Mediation Course at Harvard University and was admitted to the Abu Dhabi Global Market Arbitration Panel in December 2022.  His areas of specialisation include: Commercial Law, Intellectual Property Law, Labour Law, Land Use Planning, Professional Negligence, Insurance, Municipal Law, Environmental Law, Energy Law, Administrative and Sports Law.  He has served as an Acting Judge of the Western Cape High Court on four occasions and on the Labour Court bench on two occasions.  He has also been an arbitrator in disputes involving Commercial Law, Intellectual Property Law, Sports Law and Labour Law.

Mediation experience and style:

Andre has been involved in over 70 mediations, mostly as a mediator but also as a representative of one of the disputants.  Active listening, empathy, lateral thinking and frequent reality checks feature in the mediation style he follows.  He is deeply committed to promoting mediation as an expeditious and cost-effective dispute resolution tool.  Over 70% of the cases in which he has acted as mediator have been settled.  

Comments from mediation clients:

"Advocate Oosthuizen was a phenomenal mediator. He enabled settlement of a matter involving 3 defendants, all with various counter-claim and issues."