Professor Mohamed Paleker

Bio

  • I teach the Civil Procedure and a research elective on Civil Justice Reform.
  • Until 2016, I also taught the Law of Succession.
  • I supervise several Masters and PhD students.
  • I was a researcher at the Constitutional Assembly during the Constitution drafting process (1995-1996).
  • I completed my articles at a Cape Town Law firm which specialised in commercial and media law.
  • I was admitted to the attorneys' profession in 1998.
  • I started lecturing at UCT in 2000.
  • I like general history and as such have an interest in legal history.
  • I am an avid hiker.

Teaching

  • Civil Procedure - Final Year
  • Civil Justice Reform - Final Year Elective 

Awards

  • In 2012, I received the HELTASA award for teaching
  • In 2006, I received the Distinguished Teacher’s Award. This is the highest teaching award that the University can confer on an academic member, and it is only awarded once.
  • In 2005, I received the Merit Award for making a significant contribution to teaching at UCT.

Fellowships, Visiting Lectureships, Professorships 

  • In 2015 I taught a module on Comparative Civil Procedure in Stockholm.
  • In 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012 I taught Comparative Tort Litigation at the University of Florida.

Publications

  • Mohamed Paleker The South African Sheriffs’ Guide:  Practice and Procedure, 2016, Juta Publishers, Cape Town, Revision Service 1
  • Jamneck, Rautenbach, Paleker, Van der Linde, Wood-Bodley Law of Succession in SA, 2ed, 2016, Oxford University Press.
  • Mohamed Paleker The South African Sheriffs’ Guide:  Practice and Procedure, 2015, Juta Publishers, Cape Town 1-750.
  • Marius de Waal & Mohamed Paleker (eds) South African Law of Succession and Trusts” – The Past Meeting the Future and Thoughts for the Future, 2014, Juta Publishers, Cape Town.
  • Daniel MacKintosh & Mohamed Paleker “The Grandchild’s Claim to Maintenance from a Deceased Grandparent’s Estate”, 2014, Acta Juridica 41-77
  • Mohamed Paleker “Civil Procedure in the Magistrates Courts of South Africa” (2014) volume 3 Law of South Africa, LexisNexis Butterworths, 1-250.
  • Mohamed Paleker “Fact and Truth-Finding in South African Civil Procedure” in R Rhee & A Uzelac (ed) Truth and Efficiency in Civil Proceedings (2013) Intersentia 189-218
  • Mohamed Paleker “Civil Procedure in South Africa: The Past, The Present and the Future” 2011 (16) ZZPInt 343-368.
  • Jamneck, Rautenbach, Paleker, Van der Linde, Wood-Bodley Erfreg in Suid Afrika (2de uitgawe, 2013, Oxford University Press.
  • Jamneck, Rautenbach, Paleker, Van der Linde, Wood-Bodley Law of Succession in SA, 2ed, 2012, Oxford University Press.
  • Rautenbach et al Erfreg in Suid Afrika, 2009, Oxford University Press.
  • Mohamed Paleker “Succession” in Francois du Bois (ed) Wille’s Principles of South African Law, 9th edition, 2007, Juta Publishers, Cape Town.
  • Mohamed Paleker “Mediation in South Africa: Here But Not All There” in N Alexander (ed) Global Trends in Mediation, 2nd edition, 2006 , Kluwer Publications.
  • Mohamed Paleker “Letters of Demand (Interpellatio Extraiudicialis): Form and Substance” 30:1 (2005) Journal for Juridical Science 68-89, University of the Free State
  • Mohamed Paleker “Bekker v Naude & Others: The Supreme Court of Appeal Settles The Meaning of ‘Drafted’ in Section 2(3) of the Wills Act but Creates a Potential Constitutional Problem” 121 (2004) South African Law Journal 27-33, Juta Publishers, Cape Town.
  • Mohamed Paleker “Court-Connected ADR in Civil Litigation: the Key to Access to Justice in South Africa” 6:3 (2003) Australian ADR Bulletin 48-50, Richmond Publishers, Australia.
  • Mohamed Paleker “The Changing Face of Mediation in South Africa” in N Alexander (ed) Global Trends in Mediation (2003) 301-340, Centrale für Mediation Gmb & Co. KG, Germany).
  • M Paleker “Mediation in the Family Court. Mountains Promised Molehills delivered” (2002) 10 Juta’s Business Law 13-19, Juta Publishers, Cape Town.
  • W Amien & M Paleker “Women’s Rights 1997-1998” South African Yearbook of Human Rights (1997-1998) 321-390, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Natal, Durban.

Professional Associations, Editorships etc

  • I have recently trained more than 100 aspiring and qualified mediators in court-annexed mediation
  • I have acted as the reviewer for several law journals, examined several Master’s theses, and been the external examiner for multiple courses at several South African Universities.
  • In the past, I assisted the Women's Legal Centre and the Gender Commission with some of their advocacy work.
  • I offered training to judicial officers (magistrates) on judicial ethics.
  • I trained court officials both in South Africa and in the SADC region.

Law Commissions, legislative drafting and other legal service

  • From 2016-2018 I served on the Superior Courts Task Team. I assisted to draft several amendments to the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013 as well as the Uniform Rules of Court, and the Supreme Court of Appeal Rules.Between 2005 and 2013 I served on the Ministerial Task Team for Small Claims Courts. We were responsible to oversee the roll out for more than 200 small claims courts countrywide. We also assisted with the public education programme and the training of court officials and presiding commissioners.
  • In the years 2015 to 2017, I served on the Ministerial Advisory Committee for Court-Annexed Mediation. I assisted with the implementation of court-annexed mediation in the courts.
  • Between 2012 and 2018 I served as a member of the Rules Board for Courts of Law, appointed in terms of the Rules Board for Court of Law Act 107 of 1985. I served on several committees and chaired two. I worked extensively on the court annexed- mediation rules for the magistrates’ courts and the processes and procedures for judicial sales in execution. In  my capacity as a member of the board, I proposed a considerable number of amendments to the Magistrates’ Courts Rules and to Uniform Rules of Court – many of which led to legislative amendments.
  • In 2008 I was appointed as an advisory member to the South African Law Reform Commission for the Revision of the South African Statute Book, Project 25. I had to review all the legislation dealing with the Law of Succession and Civil Procedure.

Conferences and other engagements

2016

  • Presented a seminar to the Cape Law Society on the Interpretation of Wills.

2014-2017

  • Presented conference papers at various Civil Procedure Conferences organised by the Department of Justice. The latest was in November 2017, where I gave a paper on ADR and Judicial Case Flow Management in the High Court at a Judicial Conference held at Emperor’s Palace, Kempton Park, Johannesburg. In the past I also presented at a conference on Legal Cost, Access to Justice, and Judicial Sales in Execution.

2013

  • Presented a paper at the Law of Succession and Trusts Conference at the University of Pretoria on the Incorporation by reference in the South African Law of Succession

2012

  • Convened and Hosted a Law of Succession and Trusts Conference at the University of Cape Town and presented a paper on The Recognition of a Grandchild’s Claim for Maintenance from a Deceased Grandparent’s Estate.

  • Presented a paper at the Fiduciary Institute of South Africa Conference, Cape Town on the Development of Maintenance Claims Against Deceased Estates: South Africa versus Global Trends.

2011

  • Presented a paper on Truth and Efficiency in South African Civil Procedure at the campus at the University of Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

2010

  • Presented a paper at the University of the Western Cape in September 2010 on the doctrine of collation in the law of succession.

  • Presented a paper at the Ius Commune Conference held in Belgium on Access to Civil Justice in South Africa.

2008

  • Presented a paper at the University of Malaysia on Court-Connected Mediation under the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. I was invited to do so by the Asia-Pacific Mediation Forum.

2006

  • Presented a paper at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji on Court-Connected Models of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Civil Matters.

  •  Presented a seminar to members of the faculty and to postgraduate students at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

2005

  • Presented a paper at the Commonwealth Legal Education Conference. There I presented a paper entitled Customary Inheritance Practices in a Roman-Dutch Legal System Informed by Constitutional Principles.

  • Chaired a session at the Research Unit for Legal & Constitutional Interpretation (RULCI) Conference held at the University of Cape Town.

2004

  • Presented a seminar at the Faculty of Law, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. I discussed the Impact of the South African Bill of Rights on the Law of Succession.

2003

  • Presented a paper in Cape Town at a conference arranged by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on the Reformulation of Small Claims Courts in South Africa.

2002

  • Presented a paper and a poster on ADR in Civil Litigation at the 16th Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law held in Brisbane, Australia.

  • Sat as a moot judge at the 11th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition held in Cairo, Egypt.