How I work (so you know what to expect)
- Commercial perspective first: Legal support should make business decisions clearer, not heavier.
- Service and ownership matter: Barnard's service values and service imperatives are intended to keep standards high across the firm.
- Built around relationships that last: The aim is not only to solve the immediate matter, but to help build durable value and trust over time.
- No drift when leadership matters: Where the issue needs the right team and the right level of attention early, that should happen quickly.
If the issue is broad, strategic or hard to categorise, describe it in one paragraph - we'll help route it properly.
What I help clients get right
- Finding the right legal route when a matter carries broader commercial, leadership or reputational consequences
- Connecting clients to the Barnard team best placed to handle pressure-point legal work across the firm
- Supporting a service approach built around responsiveness, ownership and commercially focused outcomes
- Helping shape cross-practice legal support where business growth, dispute pressure or structural change overlap
- Strengthening client relationships that need more than one-off technical advice
Insights from Douw and Barnard
Credentials
- Managing Director of Barnard
- Barnard is described in its firm profile as the exclusive Southern Africa member and current President-member of the International Commercial Law Alliance (ICLA)
- Recognition as Law.com's Most Innovative Law Firm in Africa
