Professional background and experience

Charles is an Attorney and an Alternative Dispute Resolution specialist. After several years of legal practice, most notably at the Legal Resources Centre, a public interest law firm where he served under Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, he was appointed Executive Director of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa (IMSSA) in 1987.

From 1987 to 1995 he steered IMSSA’s growth into a national organization and conducted several hundred mediations and arbitrations across all sectors of the South African economy. In 1994 he was appointed as a Commissioner of the Independent Electoral Commission which oversaw South Africa’s first national democratic elections. 

In 1995/6, under the auspices of the International Labour Organisation a Geneva based UN agency, he assisted in the establishment of the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), South Africa’s first national public dispute settlement agency and then served as the CCMA’s first Executive Director. From 1998 to 2008 he directed technical co-operation projects in Africa for the ILO. He has facilitated labour law reform projects and the establishment of several national dispute settlement agencies in Southern African countries. He has conducted conciliation and mediation training in South Africa, the Philippines, Italy, and the Republic of Ireland. He has presented at International Conferences in the USA, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Australia, Japan, and South Africa.

Charles is the Executive Chairman of a boutique consulting company Stratalign. In 2009 he received Tokiso’s Mediator of the Year award. He is a partner in the firm Harris Nupen Molebatsi Inc. He is a Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) (UK) accredited commercial mediator and he has served as an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Cape Town. In 2022, Charles received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Mediation experience and style:

Charles has consulted in the field of employee relations since 2008 and has been involved in high-level interventions to resolve commercial disputes, labour disputes, and been appointed to address dysfunctional relationships and systems in corporate settings and in professional service firms. He has in recent times focused on addressing pathologies that beset workplace relationships involving a range of remedial interventions. He has also managed major multi-stakeholder negotiations in both the public and private sectors.

Facilitation experience and style:

Charles is an experienced facilitator having managed a wide range of processes including Relationship by Objective (RBO) processes. His style is relaxed and warm while challenging the parties to identify problems in their relationships and agree specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and achievable, time-bound action plans.

Chairing enquiries and investigations experience:

Charles has extensive experience as an arbitrator and as chairperson of disciplinary enquiries. His style is firm and fair.

Comments from clients:

“The mediation process was extremely professional and the mediator, Charles Nupen, was perfect for his role as mediator. Will use Conflict Dynamics in the furture. Highly recommended.”