Eitan Stern

Legalese's founder and director, Eitan is a practising attorney with a background in commercial and entertainment law and tech entrepreneurship. Eitan has worked with sectors across the board, from creative, advertising and media, to educational, non-profit and technology industries. He's an established public speaker, lecturer, mediator, negotiator and DJ.

Lauren van der Byl

Lauren is an admitted attorney with experience in litigation, commercial law and data compliance. With her background in a large, multinational law firm, Lauren has a broad training base, which she aims to use in ensuring that the solutions that she provides to Legalese's clients are tailor-made, reliable, and accessible. She has a dual focus at Legalese on both data and regulatory compliance including POPI and GDPR across industries, as well as a focus on commercial law which includes the drafting of various agreements, research and legal opinions.

Rushni Ebrahim

Rushni is an admitted attorney with experience in litigation and commercial law. At Legalese, her focus is on drafting various agreements, research and legal opinions. Rushni majored in English Literature and Sociology prior to her LLB, and brings a fresh perspective on words and people to the table.

Cerene van Huyssteen

As Sales Support Manager, Cerene specialises in providing top class customer service to ensure every enquiry is met with a solution specifically tailored to meet their needs. Learning from her extensive sales experience, she aims to leave every customer a delighted member of the Legalese family.

Ilyaas Mayet

Ilyaas is an admitted attorney with experience in commercial and litigious employment law. His focus is on providing practical solutions to clients across a broad spectrum of industries. He has extensive knowledge and expertise in drafting of employment contracts, policies, running workshops, conducting workplace investigations and guiding and representing clients at the CCMA and Labour Court.

Kirsty Dean-Mhlongo

An admitted attorney with commercial and competition experience. Kirsty has worked in various sectors, but has a particular interest in the hospitality industry and international non-profit organisations. Kirsty focuses on drafting bespoke agreements and crafting solution-orientated advice that allows clients to focus on running their business as opposed to the legal complexities of transactions.

Kyle Freitag

An admitted attorney with several years of commercial legal experience, Kyle brings knowledge and drafting skills relating to commercial agreements of all kinds, company structuring, research and legal opinions to our team, as well as a knack for simplifying complex contractual agreements. As a committed full-time nerd, Kyle keeps up to date with developments in the technology and gaming industries using his firm grasp on the law to spot potential opportunities or pitfalls along the way.

Christian Tabor-Raeside

Christian has extensive legal experience in advising on commercially-related issues and in drafting agreements for a wide variety of commercial transactions. He also has years of litigation experience which add to his approach when providing sound legal advice and resolving disputes. Christian has an affinity for and finds enjoyment in the art of words, specifically in crafting agreements that fit the unique needs of each client no matter their industry.

Phillip Kent

Legalese's COO, Phillip is an aviation law expert and commercial pilot, with over a decade of experience in the aviation industry as flight crew and airline director, and the author of South Africa's authoritative drone textbook. Phillip's unique combination of legal knowledge and practical experience enables him to deliver a specialised set of skills to the aviation industry.

Brett Pollack

Brett’s speciality is the rigorous interpretation and nuanced application of complex regulatory frameworks - and particularly those relevant to the baby but booming cannabis industry. He gained much of his expertise at one of the preeminent African law firms where he served his articles and worked as an associate. Having previously served a term as a judicial clerk of the Constitutional Court, Brett also has a passion for and experience in human rights and constitutional law.

Simon Attwell

Simon has a background in the world of publishing and intellectual property disputes and experience mediating disputes in multiple areas of the entertainment industry, all kinds of commercial partnerships, family will and estate settlements and tech-related issues. He is an accredited Commercial Mediator through Conflict Dynamics South Africa and CEDR in the UK.

Stephan Viollier

Steph is a practising attorney licensed in South Africa and New York with a background in media and commerce. He specialises in intellectual property law, including trade marks; open source licensing; advertising law; counterfeit goods; domain name disputes and IP-related commercial agreements. Steph focuses on tech trends, with a fascination with data science, blockchain and crypto developments.

Join the team!

Legalese is not a law firm. We are a creative legal agency which has redesigned legal services to suit the creative industry, music industry, tech companies and startups. We celebrate invention above convention, ideas above amenability. This isn’t just lip service – everything from our approach to clients and the law, to our office and our working environment reflects this. Our team is dedicated to this vision. We think creatively and may act unconventionally while still maintaining extreme professionalism and excellence. We have a fun time, keep a sustainable work-life balance and wear comfortable shoes while doing it.