Contract and Dispute Resolution Expert

Hayley Laing is a dispute-resolution attorney with over 9 years post-qualification experience handling a diverse portfolio at some of South Africa’s top commercial law firms. Her client list is impressive and includes organisations such as, Nedbank; Absa; Pick n Pay; ADT Security; Transnet; Vox Telecoms; Trencon; Basil Read; Tri-Star Construction; Lemay Construction.

She holds an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand and she was admitted as an attorney in the High Court of South Africa in 2008.

Hayley has extensive experience in commercial litigation comprising of matters of varying complexity relating to banking; insurance; investment banking; aircraft finance; franchise agreements; forex; home loans; contracts for difference; notarial bonds; lease agreements; telecommunications; security; construction; reckless credit; fraud; property; hire-purchase agreements; National Credit Act; Consumer Protection Act and FICA.

Throughout her career she has been exposed to numerous contracts, more particularly when parties are involved in a dispute in relation to a contract. This has given her insight as to what the common errors are in drafting and interpreting such contracts.

Hayley has also reviewed numerous contracts over the years in order to provide clients with advice as to whether such contracts are compliant with specific legislation, as well as identifying the potential risks to the client in respect of a particular contract. She says that “it is often tempting for most companies to take shortcuts in the drafting process but any contractual relationship usually goes one of two ways, you can turn a profit or lose a small fortune.” She further goes onto say that…”most companies operate on a faulty belief system that there is no “proven recipe” when drafting a contract…they couldn’t be more wrong. You don’t have to be a lawyer but you have to know what you’re doing and ignorance is never a good defense.”