Specialist labour and construction law firm Allardyce & Partners prides itself of a success rate exceeding 90% in matters, many of which are against some of the largest competitors in the South African legal fraternity.

The law firm was established by Allardyce & Partners founding partner Leigh Allardyce in 1993, in Durban.

 Kevin Allardyce joined the firm as a partner in 1994 when the practice moved to Johannesburg, Gauteng. The practice was registered with the then Law Society of the Northern Provinces.

Kevin Allardyce became a Fellow of the Association of Arbitrators Southern Africa in 1998.

Both partners had been practicing as litigious attorneys since 1994, establishing a good reputation among their colleagues, the courts and clients. The law firm attributes its success largely to word-of-mouth referrals, which often includes those corporates and legal counsels who were once its litigation opponents.

Allardyce & Partners has acted on behalf of clients in both the private and public sectors, including district and local municipalities, Departments of Finance and Housing, as well as some blue chip and listed private companies such as Bidfood and QK Meats, Mitsubishi, Societe Generale, as training providers Astrotech and Biztech, unions including Congress of South Africa Trade Unions and Police (COSATU) and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU), as well as Bargaining Councils for the National Leather Industry, several mining houses in Mpumalanga and surrounds, among others.

During Allardyce & Partners’ first decade, it primarily dealt with Road Accident Fund matters; family law related matters; general civil litigation matters such as debt collection, damages claims arising out of motor vehicle accidents and breach of contract; insurance related matters in Gauteng; construction disputes; insurance and general litigation in both the higher and lower courts including but not limited to urgent applications in the High Courts, such as spoliation orders and interdicts, reviews etc.

The second decade saw Allardyce & Partners registering as a specialist labour law firm with the Law Society of the Northern Provinces. This shift of focus arose because of the partners’ passion to promote peoples fundamental rights created by the Constitution particularly their rights to fair labour practice. The firm’s primary focus shifted to include individual, collective labour law, from both the employer and employee’s perspective including all aspects related to employment law in South Africa both in the public and private sector.

Due to the extremely high number of labour disputes within the  construction industry and especially  construction disputes within the municipalities, Kevin shifted his focus to include all aspects of construction law, not only labour law, within this industry.  Kevin started specialising in Construction Law and acts for both the employers and contractors as well as suppliers.

The firms’ focus shift to construction law as a speciality is not limited to employment and construction law but includes procurement in the private and public sector at the municipal and national level. This means that the firm also has experience with tender irregularities in the procurement of construction contracts and where necessary reviews in the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeals.

Over the many years in practice Allardyce & Partners has gained considerable experience in litigation in general areas of law and its focus on labour law and construction law, with an emphasis on construction in the public sector, and which has attributed to its successes on behalf of its clients.

The firm also provides consulting services, not limited to legal advice, in respect of the standard JBCC, GCC, Master Builders Association suite of Contract, NEC suite  and FIDIC contracts,  but includes a proactive rather than a reactive approach in that the clients’ are afforded training and assistance in the conclusion, interpretation and application as well as enforcement of these contracts.

The firm has also been involved in the development and drawing up of training materials in the employment law sphere (many of which have been approved by the respective sector education and training authorities). The firm also undertakes training for its construction clients which is aimed particularly the contractors and subcontractors and is aimed at empowering these clients to truly understand the nature, import of the construction clients as well as their rights and obligations in terms of such contracts. This is aimed at assisting these clients in avoiding disputes arising therefrom, if possible, and where not possible dealing with the interpretation and enforcement of their rights under the respective contracts. This includes facilitating and training on an outsourced basis, and in-house.

What makes the firm unique in South Africa, particularly within the construction law arena, is that it offers its clients to render legal services on a contingency basis, that is “no win no fee”, as we are acutely aware that more often than not it is the case of David versus Goliath where the contractors and subcontractors often do not have the financial resources to enforce their contractual rights against their larger counter party who generally is equipped with far greater resources.

The firm also offers clients a 30 minute free consultation to assess the merits of the case as a further means to assist those clients who would otherwise not be in a financial position to seek legal advice.