How Many Personal Suretyships Have You Signed? Most Directors Cannot Say.
Bank facility, landlord, two suppliers, maybe a vehicle. Each one sits behind the company and in front of your house. Add a minute book nobody has touched since registration, and the protection you assume you have becomes very hard to prove. A few short steps, about three minutes, and you will know exactly where you stand.
- Your weakest areas named in writing, the moment you finish
- Fixed fees published below, so you know the number before you ask
- Confidential from the first message, and read by a practising attorney
- One attorney who coordinates everything, so you deal with one person
Six Things That Have Already Happened to Someone Like You
Not practice areas. Actual situations. Tap the ones that are true for your business, and we will tell you what that combination usually means.
Who This Is For, and Who It Is Not For
We would rather tell you now than take a fee for work you do not need.
This is for you if
- You are a director, owner or shareholder, and your own name is on company obligations
- The business is established, trading, and signs commercial agreements regularly
- You would rather spend R3,500 preventing something than R12,500 a session resolving it
- You want one person who knows the whole business, not a different specialist each time
- You are heading towards a sale, a succession or an investor, and the paperwork will be examined
This is not for you if
- You want litigation for its own sake. Our work is preventative, and we will try to keep you out of court
- You need family, criminal or personal injury law. That is not what we do, and we will say so
- You are looking for an opinion that says what you have already decided
- The matter is already in court with another firm. Ask them first, changing attorneys mid matter is expensive
- You have not started trading yet. Come back when there is something to protect
What This Costs, Before You Ask
Most people avoid attorneys because the meter has no ceiling and nobody will tell them the number. Here is the number.
| Package | What it answers | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Contract Health Check | One agreement, reviewed and marked up by a practising attorney, with a plain language note on what each change protects you from. The place to start if you are not ready for a conversation. | R3,500 flat |
| Governance Implementation | Minute book, resolutions, director register and CIPC filings brought current and kept that way. This is what makes director liability defensible instead of hoped for. | R18,500 to R35,000 |
| Formal Mediation | Accredited Court-Annexed mediators for the Gauteng High Courts. A session, not a litigation retainer, and usually a fraction of what the same dispute costs in court. | R12,500 per session |
| Exit and Succession | The structuring, agreements and shareholder mechanics that decide what the business is worth when you leave, and who ends up with it. | R45,000 to R120,000 |
Prevention Before Litigation
Most legal disasters are avoidable. Our job is to catch them early and keep you out of a courtroom wherever we can.
- 01We Find Risk EarlyIn your contracts, your structure and your compliance. Usually the standard agreement and the minute book, because nobody has been asked to look at either.
- 02We Fix It CleanlyPractical, commercially minded advice that solves the issue without creating three more down the line, at a fee agreed before we start.
- 03We Stand With YouIf a dispute does arise, you have an attorney who already knows the business and defends it with integrity, rather than one reading the file for the first time.
What Usually Stops People Asking
All five of these are reasonable. Here is the honest answer to each.
Nothing you tell us leaves this office. It is confidential from the first message. Most first conversations end with two things you can fix yourself and no engagement at all, which is a perfectly good outcome for everyone.
That is what litigation firms do. We practise preventative law, and we are accredited Court-Annexed mediators, which means our instinct is to resolve rather than to file. The whole point of a risk check is to keep you out of a courtroom, not to book you into one.
A Contract Health Check is R3,500. A mediation once the dispute is live is R12,500 a session. Litigation is a multiple of that, and it takes years. The order of those numbers is the entire argument for doing this early.
Most established businesses do, for the work they send out. This is about the exposure nobody has been asked to look at, which is almost always the standard contract, the suretyships and the minute book. If your attorney has covered those, you will score well and we will tell you so.
The check above takes about three minutes. The conversation after it takes fifteen minutes. If nothing needs doing we tell you and you get your afternoon back.
What These Gaps Cost Once They Stop Being Theoretical
None of this is urgent today. That is exactly why it stays unfixed until it is expensive.
Every one of these is cheaper to prevent than to argue about. That is not a sales line, it is arithmetic.
Martina identifies risks before they escalate into disasters and structures deals that are resilient. She is the reason our clients sleep soundly.
One Weak Clause Is All It Takes. Know Where You Stand.
About three minutes, and your written result lands in your inbox. Confidential, free, and read by a practising attorney. If nothing needs doing, we will tell you that too.
Start My Exposure CheckNot ready to talk? Start with a single contract, reviewed and marked up for R3,500 flat.