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School of Law

Dr Dave Holness

Dr Dave Holness
Director of the UKZN Law Clinic, Attorney there and Senior Lecturer in the Law School
+27 31 260 7743
holness@ukzn.ac.za
Howard College
Hut 11

Biography

Dr Dave Holness is the Director of the Law Clinic of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban and a practising attorney there and Senior Lecturer in the School of Law.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Cum Laude), Bachelor of Laws (LLB) [Summa Cum Laude] and Post-graduate Diploma in Higher Education all from Rhodes University. From Nelson Mandela University he holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in Mercantile Law and a Doctorate of Law on developing a model for wider, improved and better coordinated free legal services/legal aid in South Africa in civil matters.

He is an admitted and practising Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, a member of the South African Legal Practice Council and the South African University Law Clinic Association (SAULCA).

Holness has published and lectured in South Africa and abroad mainly on topics related to improving access to justice and also socio-economic rights realisation. 

Academic qualifications

  • BA
  • LLB
  • PGDHE
  • LLM
  • LLD

Professional qualification

  • Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and a member of the South African Legal Practice Council.

Research Interests

  • Legal Aid: Access to justice
  • socio-economic rights realisation
  • beginners books for commercial law students

Membership of Professional & Other Organisations

Member of the South African Legal Practice Council (LPC) and the South African University Law Clinic Association (SAULCA).

Publications

  • Co-author (one of three authors) of book Commercial Law Fresh Perspectives (published by Pearson Maskew Miller Longman in 2006). Note: This book, co-authored by me has been subsequently published in a later edition.
  • Co-author (one of three authors) of book Commercial Law X-Kit (published by Pearson Prentice Hall in 2006).
  • Co-author (one of six authors) of book Commercial Law 2 Fresh Perspectives (published by Pearson Maskew Miller Longman in 2007). Note: This book, co-authored by me has been subsequently published in a later edition, as part of an updated and expanded Commercial Law Fresh Perspectives mentioned above.
  • Author (sole) of book The Constitutional Right to Food in South Africa: Realising the socio-economic right to food in a hungry & malnourished South Africa; lessons for similar jurisdictions? (published by Lambert Academic Publishing in 2010).
  • Author of a series of Community-based Paralegal Training Manuals for Rhodes University (2000 to 2006).
  • Journal Article: Holness and Govindjee “The realization of the constitutional right to food in South Africa” (2008) 3 De Jure 524-544.
  • Journal Article: Holness and Devenish “Transnet Ltd And Others V Chirwa 2007 (2) SA 198. The law in relation to employee claims relating to dismissal: jurisprudential principle or legal pragmatism” 2008 (71) THRHR 142.
  • Author of 3 Chapters in book Introduction to Human Rights Law Editors: Govindjee and Vrancken (2009) LexisNexis, Durban. Peer reviewed/ The Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET) ‘SAPSE’ accredited. Note: This book, co-authored by me has been subsequently published in a later edition (2016).
  • Journal Article: Holness “Recent Developments in the Provision of Pro Bono Legal Services by Attorneys in South Africa” [2013] 16(1) Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 129-164.
  • Journal Article: Holness “The constitutional justification for free legal services in civil matters in South Africa” [2013] 27(2) Speculum Juris 1-21.
  • Journal Article: Holness “Improving Access to Justice Through Compulsory Student Work at University Law Clinics” [2013] 16(4) Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 328-349.
  • Journal Article: Van Heerden, Govindjee and Holness “The constitutionality of statutory limitation to the right of access to information held by the state in South Africa” [2014] 28(1) Speculum Juris 27.
  • Journal Article: Holness “The need for recognition and regulation of paralegals: an analysis of the roles, training, remuneration and impact of community based paralegals in South Africa” (2013) 38(2) Journal of Juridical Science 78-105.
  • Journal Article: Holness and Moodley (South Africa) plus two American co-authors, Hill and Maman “Legal knowledge, needs, and assistance seeking among HIV positive and negative women in Umlazi, South Africa” (2016) 16(3) BMC International Health and Human Rights 1-10.
  • Journal Article: Holness “Improving Access to Justice through Law Graduate Post-Study Community Service in South Africa” PER / PELJ 2020 (23).
  • Journal Article: Holness “Promoting the quality of Legal Aid in South Africa through better co-ordination of service provision”. Law Democracy and Development 2021(1).
  • Journal Article: Holness ” The Need for Monitoring and Assessment of Legal Aid Quality in South Africa”. PER / PELJ 2022 (25).

INSPIRING GREATNESS

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