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Staff profile

Overview

Kershwyn Bassuday

Biography

Kershwyn is currently on sabbatical and is undertaking his PhD in Law at Durham University. He is a full-time lecturer in law at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He completed his articles of clerkship in 2014 and is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa and an accredited commercial mediator. 

Kershwyn, previously having worked for a large business law firm, has an interest in employment law but is primarily focused in applying the alternative dispute resolution principles found in the employment law sphere to commercial matters and expanding the area of resolving disputes without litigation.

Alternative Dispute Resolution is the current area of his research and the title of his PhD is ‘Legal review of settlements – the limits of privacy and confidentiality’.

A cornerstone to the mediation process is confidentiality. This aspect of private dispute resolution has made mediation a very attractive form of coming to a settlement as parties are able to keep sensitive and private matters out of the courts. The inclusion of a robust confidentially clause may keep private details of the settlement out of the public eye and media. This PhD examines the extent that parties to a mediation settlement may have their information protected post settlement.

A futher question is this - what becomes of confidentiality when after mediation and after a settlement has been agreed upon, a party now suffers from a kind of buyer’s remorse and makes a myriad of allegations - including but not limited to - duress, misrepresentation or undue influence? When is it appropriate for a court to intervene and enforce the rules of standard contract law principles?

In summary the research aim of the PhD thesis is firstly to determine the limits of a court to review a settlemenet agreement. Secondly, whether a mediator should enjoy immunity from being a witness in legal proceedings contesting a settlement agreement reached in a confidential mediation? 

 

Publications

Book review

Conference Paper

Journal Article

Other (Print)