Commercial Lawyers Near Me

Burger Huyser Attorneys’ commercial-law practice in Johannesburg handles contracts, shareholders’ agreements, lease agreements, company registrations, and acquisitions or disposals for Gauteng-based businesses, run through the firm’s multi-specialist team under commercial-law specialist consultant J’Retha van Rensburg and admitted attorney Mari Köhne. The firm’s head office is in Linden, Randburg, with branches in Sandton, Bedfordview, Alberton, Roodepoort, Midrand, Pretoria, and Centurion — commercial clients across Greater Johannesburg are typically served by the Linden, Sandton, or Midrand branches depending on location. Initial consultations are booked through the head office on 011 888 0246, with after-hours contact via the relevant branch mobile line.

Why Engage a Commercial Lawyer in Johannesburg

Johannesburg-based businesses routinely face commercial-law decisions that benefit from legal input before signing. Contracts, lease agreements, shareholders’ agreements, and company registrations all carry long-tail risk if drafted without legal advice: an ambiguously worded indemnity, a missing break clause in a lease, or a shareholders’ agreement that conflicts with the company’s founding document can become an expensive dispute years down the line.

A specialist commercial lawyer reviews documents for enforceability, regulatory compliance, and clarity of obligations, and flags clauses — indemnities, penalty clauses, restraint-of-trade provisions, escalation formulae — that could expose the business later. Choosing a multi-specialist firm means the same file can be handed to the litigation team if a dispute arises, without the client having to brief a new firm from scratch.

Burger Huyser Attorneys is a multi-specialist firm rather than a corporate-only boutique. The firm is set up to handle commercial work alongside family, criminal, and litigation matters, which is useful for SME owners whose legal needs are not exclusively commercial — for example, a business owner handling a contract dispute at the same time as a divorce or estate plan.

What the Commercial Law Service Covers

Burger Huyser’s commercial-law service spans the lifecycle of a South African business, from initial registration through ongoing contracts, structuring, and exit. The table below summarises each workstream and what the firm handles within it.

Workstream	Scope handled by Burger Huyser
Commercial contracts	Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating sale-of-goods agreements, service-level agreements, supplier agreements, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and distribution contracts.
Shareholders’ agreements	Drafting and reviewing shareholders’ agreements for closely-held companies, including share-sale mechanics, drag-along and tag-along rights, dividend policy, deadlock provisions, and exit mechanisms.
Lease agreements	Commercial-lease reviews and drafting for both landlord and tenant clients, including escalation clauses, break clauses, repair obligations, and renewal options.
Company registrations	New (Pty) Ltd registrations with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), including preparation of the Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) and initial shareholder resolutions.
Acquisitions and disposals	Buyer- and seller-side support on share and asset transactions, including due-diligence coordination, sale-of-business agreements, and transactional paperwork required to close.
General commercial advice	Ongoing counsel on regulatory questions, pre-litigation contractual disputes, and structural questions about how a business should be set up.

Contracts

Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating commercial contracts is the most common commercial-law instruction from Johannesburg-based businesses. The service covers sale-of-goods agreements under the Consumer Protection Act-aligned terms often used in B2B trading, service-level agreements (SLAs), supplier and distribution contracts, and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) used to protect confidential information during negotiations. Each contract is reviewed for clarity of obligation, payment terms, dispute-resolution clauses, and termination mechanics before signing.

Shareholders’ Agreements

A shareholders’ agreement governs the relationship between the shareholders of a closely-held company outside of the company’s Memorandum of Incorporation. The firm’s commercial-law service covers the full scope typically negotiated in a South African private company: share-sale mechanics, drag-along and tag-along rights, dividend policy, deadlock mechanisms, and exit-pricing formulae. Section 15(7) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 expressly recognises shareholders’ agreements but provides that any provision conflicting with the Act or the company’s MOI is void — the agreement must be drafted to complement, not override, those documents.

Lease Agreements

Commercial-lease review is one of the highest-value instructions the firm handles, because a poorly drafted lease binds the tenant (or the landlord) for years. Burger Huyser reviews and drafts commercial leases for both landlord and tenant clients, with attention to escalation clauses (annual rental increases, often CPI- or turnovers-linked), break clauses (early-exit rights), repair and maintenance obligations, renewal options, and the often-misunderstood consequences of holding over at lease expiry.

Company Registrations

The firm registers new (Pty) Ltd companies with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), South Africa’s national company registry. Each registration involves preparation of the Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI), initial shareholder and director resolutions, beneficial-ownership filings, and electronic lodgement via the CIPC eServices platform.

Acquisitions and Disposals

The firm’s commercial-law service supports both buyers and sellers on share and asset transactions. The work covers due-diligence coordination across the financial, legal, and operational aspects of the deal, sale-of-business agreements, share-purchase agreements, and the transactional paperwork required to close.

General Commercial Advice

Many commercial-law instructions are advisory rather than transactional — a business owner wants to understand a regulatory change, get a second opinion on a contractual interpretation, or work through a structural question about how the business should be set up. The firm provides that ongoing counsel under its general commercial-advising scope, without requiring a fresh engagement each time.

Who Delivers the Service

Commercial-law work at Burger Huyser is run through the firm’s dedicated commercial-law capability, with input from the litigation and director network where a file crosses disciplines.

Practitioner	Role	Specialisation
J’Retha van Rensburg	Specialist Consultant	Commercial Law & Contracts
Mari Köhne	Admitted Attorney	Commercial Law
Herman Bonnet	Director, Pretoria branch	Civil litigation and contractual disputes — supports the firm’s commercial-contract work and dispute-side instructions

The broader team — candidate attorneys, legal secretaries, and the notarial and conveyancing capacity under firm-reference.md §2 — supports cross-branch coverage where a transaction spans Gauteng, including property elements handled through the firm’s notary and conveyancing services.

The Johannesburg Context: Where Commercial Work Happens

Where the work takes place

Most commercial-law work is handled in the firm’s offices (Linden head office, Sandton, Midrand, Bedfordview, or Alberton depending on client location) — not in court. Signing meetings, original-document handover, and notarial witnessing happen at the relevant branch by appointment.

Commercial clients across Greater Johannesburg are typically served by the branch closest to their operations. The Sandton branch is the most common signing venue for Johannesburg-north and Sandton-based clients; Midrand, Bedfordview, and Alberton handle east-Rand and Midrand clients; Linden and Roodepoort cover the west-Rand and central-Johannesburg footprint.

Where commercial disputes run if they escalate

Where a commercial matter escalates to litigation, it typically runs through the Gauteng Division of the High Court (Johannesburg seat) for matters within its jurisdiction. In 2023, the Johannesburg High Court launched a dedicated Commercial Court — branded the “Court of the Future” — to handle complex commercial disputes (company law, competition, insolvency, large-scale construction, insurance, mining, IP, telecommunications) with specialist case management. Smaller commercial claims are heard in the relevant Magistrate’s Court. Burger Huyser’s general-litigation practice (under Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo) handles the file if the matter proceeds to court.

Where company registrations are filed

Companies registered through the firm’s commercial service are filed with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), the national company registry responsible for incorporation, company-secretarial filings, and beneficial-ownership compliance. CIPC filings are made electronically through the CIPC eServices portal or the BizPortal gateway.

The firm’s professional-body memberships — Pretoria Attorneys Association, Gauteng Family Law Forum, and Johannesburg Attorneys Association — sit alongside the commercial-law practice and support cross-discipline referrals where a commercial file overlaps family, labour, or litigation work.

What to Look for When Choosing a Commercial Lawyer in Johannesburg

When comparing Johannesburg-based commercial-law practices, the practical selection criteria tend to be the same whether the instruction is a one-off contract review or ongoing commercial counsel.

• Multi-disciplinary capability — a firm that can handle contracts, company registrations, and (if needed) litigation under one roof saves briefing time.
• Transparent fee conversation — fees should be quoted up front after a scope review, not estimated loosely.
• Direct attorney access — confirm who will actually draft and review the documents (not just the partner who pitches).
• Cross-border awareness — Johannesburg-based commercial work increasingly involves cross-border elements; the firm’s commercial-law capability supports businesses trading across borders.
• Local presence — proximity matters for signing meetings, original-document handover, and notarial witnessing; the firm’s branch spread across Johannesburg (Linden, Sandton, Midrand, Bedfordview, Alberton, Roodepoort) covers this.

Burger Huyser Attorneys is a multi-specialist firm with commercial-law capability delivered through specialist consultant J’Retha van Rensburg and admitted attorney Mari Köhne, supported by Director Herman Bonnet’s contractual-disputes practice at the Pretoria branch and the firm’s broader litigation bench. The head-office intake on 011 888 0246 directs commercial enquiries to the right team from the first call.

Practical Considerations: Cost, Timeline, What to Bring

Cost

Fees depend on the scope and complexity of the engagement. Burger Huyser Attorneys quotes on a per-matter basis after an initial scope discussion, so a contract review, a company registration, and a shareholders’ agreement sit at very different price points. Rather than a loose pre-engagement estimate, the firm gives a transparent fee conversation up front once the scope is clear.

Timeline

Typical timelines vary by workstream. Contract reviews and standard company registrations typically run in days to a few weeks; shareholders’ agreements and acquisitions or disposals run longer depending on negotiation cycles between the parties. Where CIPC filings are involved, current CIPC processing times apply.

Workstream	Typical turnaround
Single contract review	Days to 1 week
New (Pty) Ltd registration (CIPC lodgement)	Days to a few weeks, depending on CIPC processing
Standard shareholders’ agreement	2 to 6 weeks (negotiation-dependent)
Commercial-lease review or drafting	1 to 3 weeks
Acquisitions or disposals	Weeks to months (transaction-dependent)

What to bring to the first consultation

Coming prepared shortens the scope-review stage and lets the firm quote the engagement more accurately. The checklist below is a starting point — confirm any additional documents with the firm after the first call.

• Existing contracts or draft documents (for review work)
• CIPC registration number (for existing-entity work)
• IDs and addresses of all parties (directors, shareholders, signatories)
• A clear written description of the transaction or issue
• Any prior correspondence, term sheets, or heads of agreement

Need a commercial lawyer in Johannesburg? Contact Burger Huyser Attorneys on 011 888 0246 (mobile 061 516 6878) or visit the head office at 49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg, 2195 (Monday to Friday, 7:30am–4:30pm). The firm’s commercial-law service runs through specialist consultant J’Retha van Rensburg and admitted attorney Mari Köhne, supported by the broader multi-specialist team across the Sandton, Bedfordview, Alberton, Roodepoort, and Midrand branches. The firm carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified “Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa”) and was named Commercial Law Firm of the Year 2025 – South Africa by the 5 Star Lawyers Awards.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a commercial lawyer cost in Johannesburg?

Fees depend on scope and complexity. Burger Huyser Attorneys quotes on a per-matter basis after an initial scope discussion at the Linden head office (011 888 0246); the firm provides a transparent fee conversation up front rather than a loose pre-engagement estimate. A contract review, a company registration, and a shareholders’ agreement sit at very different price points.

How long does drafting a shareholders’ agreement take?

A standard shareholders’ agreement for a closely-held company typically takes two to six weeks depending on negotiation cycles between the parties. Where the transaction is more complex (multiple classes of shares, drag/tag provisions, deadlock mechanisms, exit-pricing formulae), drafting takes longer.

Can Burger Huyser register a new company for me?

Yes — the firm’s commercial-law service handles (Pty) Ltd registrations with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), including preparation of the Memorandum of Incorporation and initial shareholder resolutions. Initial consultations are booked through the Linden head office on 011 888 0246.

Do I need a lawyer to review a commercial lease?

A commercial lease is a long-term commitment with binding obligations on rent, escalations, repairs, and exit. A lawyer’s review will flag unfair clauses, ambiguities, and obligations the tenant or landlord may not have spotted — most Johannesburg-based businesses engage a lawyer before signing rather than after a dispute arises.

Where is the Burger Huyser head office, and what are the hours?

49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg, 2195. Telephone 011 888 0246, mobile 061 516 6878. Open Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 4:30pm.