Willem Basson

Willem Basson

Consultant Partner

Litigation & Dispute Resolution Team

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Willem Basson is a Consultant Partner within our Litigation & Dispute Resolution Team.

Willem is a dual-qualified solicitor, qualified in both South Africa and England and Wales with more than a decade of experience in London’s legal market, including at a top 50 UK law firm.

Willem is know for his pragmatic and commercially attuned approach, specialising in complex commercial disputes and contentious corporate insolvency.

He represents a diverse client base ranging from multinational corporations to SMEs and start-ups, providing strategic advice and representation across sectors such as energy, manufacturing, retail, logistics and technology. He is particularly adept at resolving high-stakes matters involving commercial contracts, shareholder and director disputes, IT and technology disputes, and breach of restrictive covenant disputes.

Willem has significant expertise in international asset recovery having notably acted for the Trustee in Bankruptcy of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC and the estate of Bernard L. Madoff in ongoing United States and global claims.

Willem also advises on arbitration, mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Client’s value Willem’s clear advice and his ability to navigate disputes with minimal disruption to their business.

*Willem Basson is a Consultant at Acuity Law working on a self-employed basis*

 

Expertise:

  • Commercial Litigation
  • Contract and business disputes
  • Corporate, director and shareholder disputes
  • Corporate finance and exit and transaction disputes
  • Restrictive covenant disputes
  • Contested and uncontested debt recovery
  • ADR, mediation and arbitration
  • Injunctive relief and urgent interim applications
  • Applications under the Companies Act 2006 (rectification of the register and restoration of companies)
  • Hague Convention evidence applications for obtaining evidence in foreign courts
  • Insolvency Litigation
  • Statutory demands and winding-up petitions
  • Office-holder litigation and asset recovery
  • Misfeasance, unlawful dividends, transactions at undervalue and preference claims

Work Highlights

Representing a US multinational oilfield services company in a contract dispute over deep-water hydrocarbon manufacturing off East Africa.
Successfully defending a British luxury car manufacturer in a multi-party High Court financing dispute involving a limited-edition DB4 GT.
Advising the same automotive client on an IT procurement dispute involving material breach of contract.
Successfully led Cardiff city centre’s Central Square regeneration project since 2014, having initially assembled the entire site for client Rightacres Property Co Limited.
Representing an infratech start-up in a dispute over strategic advisory and corporate finance fees.
Acting in a multi-jurisdictional supply chain dispute for a food product supplier.
Advising a media communications firm on an injunction threat related to restrictive covenants.
Representing a corporate entity in winding-up proceedings against a management services provider in the boutique hotel sector.
Advising on the global recovery efforts in the Bernard L. Madoff bankruptcy proceedings, including Hague Convention applications for UK evidence.
Advising the trustees of a trust in relation to the enforcement of a personal guarantee concerning the breach of a loan financing agreement.

Accolades

The Litigation & Dispute Resolution Team is ranked Tier 1 in the Legal 500

Legal 500

The Litigation & Dispute Resolution Team is ranked Band 2 by Chambers and Partners

Chambers & Partners

Testimonials

Thank you for your hard work and good humour throughout this case. From our side, it’s a situation we are either familiar or comfortable with. However, with all your guidance we were able to make out our case to the Court in a concise way and in the end achieved the desired result.

The way you compiled and managed our defence was first class and we are hugely grateful for your work to ensure justice prevailed.

An excellent result, and clearly the right one. Well done and thanks to the team for their excellent work on this – the case was very very well run.