Timothy Gordon-Grant is a South African lawyer and senior litigation partner at Bowmans in Johannesburg. He has built a practice in commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation, advising large corporate clients, and his work has received recognition from Legal 500, Chambers Global and Best Lawyers.
Background
Gordon-Grant's documented background is rooted in Johannesburg, where he attended St John's College and later studied at the University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg was established as a township in 1886, during the gold boom on the Witwatersrand, and its legal and commercial community grew alongside the mining economy that shaped the city.
His early education and university studies therefore took place in the city that later became the center of South Africa's corporate and financial law practice, which in turn formed the setting for his professional career.
Education
St John's College, which his professional profile lists among his schools, was founded on 1 August 1898 as a parish school of St Mary's Anglican Church in downtown Johannesburg. It moved to the Houghton Ridge in August 1907, and church bodies, first the Community of the Resurrection and later the Diocese of Johannesburg, governed it for much of its early history. It is now an independent Anglican day and boarding school for boys.
Gordon-Grant holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand, known as Wits, in Johannesburg. Wits traces its origins to the South African School of Mines, established in 1896 on the Witwatersrand goldfields, and it became a university in 1922. He is admitted to the High Court as an attorney.
Career
Gordon-Grant's career has centred on Bowman Gilfillan, the Johannesburg firm now known as Bowmans. Bowman Gilfillan was formed through a 1998 merger of three firms, one of which, Bowman Gilfillan Hayman Godfrey, was established in 1902. The firm's Johannesburg base has since become one of the Big Five law firms in South Africa.
A professional record shows him as a director of Bowman Gilfillan in 1988. He later became a partner and then senior litigation partner in the firm's Johannesburg litigation practice, where he leads litigation and arbitration teams. His practice focuses on strategic advice in disputes, particularly in corporate, commercial, banking, insurance and insolvency law, and he acts for large corporate clients in matters that often involve public hearings and arbitrations.
He has also worked as a commercial mediator and holds accreditation from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, an international dispute resolution body based in London. In one mediation he helped secure a recent settlement between Alexander Forbes and Price Forbes. He has advised corporate boards, more recently including the board of the Discovery Medical Scheme.
He led the team that drafted and finalised the settlement of ZAR 1.2 billion in the disputes arising from the Gautrain rapid rail project in Gauteng province. In the Afrox arbitration against ArcelorMittal South Africa, the team he led had been responsible for all strategic and litigation decisions from 2012. He is currently lead lawyer on litigation and arbitration matters valued in aggregate at more than ZAR 20 billion.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Chambers Global described him as a dispute resolution lawyer of high sophistication and extensive experience with deep commercial knowledge, and Legal 500 called him a highly regarded practitioner in the dispute resolution field.
