Corporate & Commercial Law Expertise

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Registration of Companies

• Registering a company means taking the steps necessary to form an entity for your business in a state and obtain the permits and licenses needed to operate.

Corporate Law

• South African company law is the body of rules which regulates corporations formed under the Companies Act. A company is a business organisation that earns income by the production or sale of goods or services.

Contract Law

• Contract law provides a legal framework within which persons can transact business and exchange resources, secure in the knowledge that the law will uphold their agreements and, if necessary, enforce them. The law of contract underpins private enterprise in South Africa and regulates it in the interest of fair dealing. DLNM also specialises in Family Law. Contact Us for your Legal Requirements.

Commercial Law

• Commercial law is a body of law that regulates the conduct of persons, merchants, and businesses who are engaged in trade, sales, and commerce. Also known as business law, it is a broad area of law that interacts with many other areas of law such as environmental regulation, real estate, and food or safety laws.

Insolvency Law

• Insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the money owed, by a person or company, on time. To be sequestrated means that your assets are sold in order to pay your debt. Under current South African Insolvency Law, a person can be sequestrated either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Formation of Entities and Partnerships

Are you looking to start a business? There are numerous ways you can structure your new business, which will play a part in how you run it and who you answer to.

If you’re a group starting a business together, or one founder going it alone, you should know the benefits and drawbacks of each structural type. Here are the 5 different types of business structures and how they will impact your business:

• Sole Proprietorship

  • A sole proprietorship is when there is a single founder who owns and runs the business. This is the simplest form of business entity because the business is not separate from the owner.

  • You can give your business a trading name, and only you have the authority to make decisions about your business.

• Partnerships

  • A partnership is when 2 or more co-owners run a business together. Partners will also pool their money towards a common goal, share specialised skills and resources and share in the ups and downs of business success.​

• Pty Ltd - Proprietary limited company

  • A private company, Pty Ltd or proprietary limited company is treated as a separate legal entity. So even if you launch your business single-handedly, this type of business is registered as a separate legal entity.​

• Public Company​

  • A public company is a business that issues securities through an initial public offering (IPO) and trades its stock on at least one stock exchange. The daily trading of the public company’s stock determines the value of the whole business.

  • Publicly traded companies are defined as public because, unlike Pty Ltd businesses, shareholders can be anyone who purchases stock. Anyone can then become equity owners of the business.

• Franchise

  • A franchise is when the owner of a business licenses their business to a third party. This gives you the right to operate the business or distribute goods and/or services using the business’s name and systems, for a fee.​

• Trusts

  • Trust – a trustee or multiple trustees (no more than 20) sets up the trust to hold assets and or conduct business for the benefit of the trustees. The advantages include a higher degree of protection to trustees and beneficiaries and possibly lower costs.​

• Close Corporate (CC)

  • Did you know that existing CCs will remain in place but no further registration of CCs may take place? It is also possible to now convert a CC to a Company.​