Editorial board details Editors:

Prof Roxan Laubscher (editor-in-chief)

ORCID: 0000-0003-1342-7655

Designation: Associate Professor Qualifications: BCom LLB LLM LLD (UJ) Affiliation: University of Johannesburg Department: Department of Public Law Contact details: rventer@uj.ac.za

Prof Roxan Laubscher is an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Johannesburg. She holds a BCom Law degree, an LLB degree, as well as a master’s and doctorate in Constitutional Law from the University of Johannesburg. She has lectured constitutional law and human rights law at the University of Johannesburg since 2011. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of South African Law/Tydskrif vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg and acts as a reviewer on various other local law journals, including the Constitutional Court Review and De Jure. She has also presented papers at various local and international conferences and publishes widely on topics in constitutional and human rights law. In 2023, she co-authored a book, Landmark Constitutional Cases that Changed South Africa, with Prof Marius van Staden from the University of the Witwatersrand, the second volume of which will be published later in 2025. She is a member of the International Association of Public Law (ICON-S) and is currently Acting Director of the South African Institute of Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law, a research centre of the University of Johannesburg. In 2025 she received the VC’s Top Researcher Award for the Faculty of Law, recognising her commitment to research excellence.

 

Prof Juanitta Calitz (co-editor)

ORCID: 0000-0001-8520-3568

Designation: Associate Professor, Vice Dean Research, Global Engagement and Internationalisation

Qualifications: LLB LLM LLD (UP)

Affiliation: University of Johannesburg

Department: Department of Mercantile Law Contact details: jcalitz@uj.ac.za

Prof Juanitta Calitz is the Vice Dean for Research, Global Engagement, and Innovation at the Faculty of Law, University of Johannesburg (UJ). A recognised expert in insolvency law and business rescue, she has published extensively in these fields, contributing numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She is a co-author of both the 10th edition of Mars: The Law of Insolvency in South Africa and the 2023 edition of Hockly’s Insolvency Law, Winding-Up & Business Rescue. Prof Calitz currently co-chairs the Regional Committee of the International Insolvency Institute (III) and serves on its Gender Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee. She is also a member of the International Advisory Council of the Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative (SGRI), launched by the Singapore Management University in partnership with the Ministry of Law, and a board member of the India Insolvency Law Academy (ILA) Task Force on Insolvency Laws. In addition, she is an honorary member of the South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association NPC (SARIPA) and serves on the board of the Stichting Bob Wessels Insolvency Law Collection at Leiden University. She also holds a HELM Woman in Leadership certificate from NMMU. In recognition of her expertise, Prof Calitz has been invited to participate as a panelist and keynote speaker at numerous international and national conferences and academic forums. She also takes a strong interest in promoting entrepreneurship among students and advancing inclusive and innovative academic leadership.

Editorial board

Prof Murdoch Watney (consulting editor)

ORCID: 0000-0002-1406-7623

Designation: Professor

Qualifications: BA Law LLB LLM (RAU) LLM (UNISA) Dip E-C Law (TJSL) LLD (RAU)

Affiliation: University of Johannesburg Department: Department of Public Law Contact details: mwatney@uj.ac.za

Murdoch Watney obtained the BA Law, LLB, LLM and LLD from the Rand Afrikaans University (as it then was) an LLM from the University of South Africa and a diploma in E-Commerce Law from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. She commenced her professional career as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice and was thereafter appointed as a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the Rand Afrikaans University in 1988. She was promoted to senior lecturer in 1994, associate professor in 1998 and professor in 2000. She lectured a wide spectrum of subjects including Indigenous Law, Roman Law, Interpretation Theory, Advanced Criminal Law, International Law, Family Law and Law of Criminal Procedure. At post-graduate level she was supervisor to the LLM in course work in Law of Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law and Law of Evidence. She lectured Information and Communication Technology Law to BSC (ICT Honours) students from 2005 to 2010. She was the course leader for the Higher Diploma in Cyber Law during 2004 to 2008. She served as deputy chairperson of the university disciplinary committee. From 2007 to 2009 she was Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Procedure. She is currently Head of the Department of Private Law. Murdoch serves as external examiner for Law of Criminal Procedure at the University of the Witwatersrand. She currently teaches Criminal Law.

Murdoch is an admitted advocate of the High Court of South Africa and was admitted as a member of the association of advocates after completion of pupillage at the Johannesburg Bar. She is a former associate member of the South African Criminal Law Bar. She has served as an assessor in criminal trials in the South Gauteng High Court as well as the Regional Court (Gauteng). She is a member of the editorial boards of the Tydskrif vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg (TSAR), the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics (IJESDF), Social Technologies (Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania) and World Journal of Politics and Law (Horizon Research Publishing Corporation). She serves on the review panels of the following international law journals: US-China Law Review, International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR) and Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PER). Murdoch is an NRF rated established researcher. She contributed to four textbooks and has published extensively on the law of criminal procedure, criminal law, law of evidence and cyber law and has delivered a number of peer-reviewed papers at national and international conferences.

Prof Franaaz Khan

ORCID: 0000-0002-9130-2789

Designation: Associate Professor, Head of Department Private Law

Qualifications: LLB, LLM, PhD (UKZN); Admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa

Affiliation: University of Johannesburg

Department: Department of Private Law Contact details: franaazk@uj.ac.za

Associate  professor  and  Head  of  Department  of  Private  Law  at  the Faculty of Law at the University of Johannesburg. She is also an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa (non-practicing). She has over 15 years of experience in academia. Her legal career spans more than two decades, beginning with an LLB and LLM, followed by practice as an attorney before transitioning into academia. She pursued her PhD. Passionate about the evolution of delictual law, she explores its intersections with constitutional values, social justice, and emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. She has presented at national and international conferences, published significantly, and supervised postgraduate students in diverse areas. She is committed to gender equity initiatives, actively supporting Black female students through mentorship programs. Her academic excellence and leadership have been recognized through prestigious awards, including the Harvard Institute for Global law and Policy and the Erasmus Scholarship, in which she will teach to international students at the University of Minho, Portugal. She is also the Vice President of the Southern African Chapter for Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA). She is also on the editorial board for an international law journal in India. These accolades have enriched her international research collaborations.

Prof Whitney Rosenberg

ORCID: 0000-0002-9343-5956

Designation: Associate Professor Qualifications are: LLB LLM LLD (UJ) Affiliation: University of Johannesburg

Department: Department of Private law Contact details: wrosenberg@uj.ac.za

Whitney Rosenberg obtained her LLB in 2010 and a Masters in Contract law in 2011 both from the University of Johannesburg. She was admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa in May 2013 after successfully completing her articles of clerkship and passing the attorneys admission examinations. She is a member of the Legal Practice Council and is on the non-practising roll of attorneys. Currently Whitney Rosenberg is an Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg where she lectures the Law of Persons and Family in the Department of Private Law as well as the Law and Language module in the Masters programme for the Drafting and Interpretation of Contracts. Whitney Rosenberg is an emerging researcher and has over the years produced and published several publications, majority of which have been published in well-known accredited and internationally recognised publications such as the Journal for Contemporary Roman-Dutch law and the Journal of South African law to name but a few. Her thesis entitled “The Legal Regulation of Infant Abandonment in South Africa” investigates a safe method of infant relinquishment after the scourge in unsafe infant abandonments in South Africa. She has also presented at various international and national conferences and has presented to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Social Development on the topic of legalising baby savers in SA. She is co-founder and President of Baby Savers of South Africa a non-profit organization that provides support to organisations wishing to implement baby savers as a method of safe infant relinquishment. She has also more recently won second-runner up Woza Award in the category Social Justice Activist/ Human Rights Activist/ Pro Bono Lawyer for her work on baby savers. Professor Rosenberg also started a change.org petition in support of her research which achieved more than 33 000 signatures of support. Her research interests include Constitutional law, Human Rights law and Family law among others.

Dr Charissa Fawole

ORCID: 0000-0001-7721-5788

Designation: Senior Lecturer

Qualifications: BA (Hons) JD (University of Windsor (Canada)) LLM LLD (SU)

Affiliation: Univeristy of Johannesburg Department: Department of Public Law Contact details: charissaf@uj.ac.za

 

Dr Charissa Fawole is a Lecturer in the Department of Public Law at the University of Johannesburg. She holds a BA (Honours) in International Relations and Development Studies and a JD from the University of Windsor in Canada. She obtained an LLM and LLD from Stellenbosch University. She was called to the bar in 2010 and remains a member in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario. Dr Fawole was also a Visiting research lawyer at the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists from 2010 to 2011. She then went on to practice law in the field of civil litigation. Dr Fawole has since transitioned her legal career from practice to legal academia. Her research focuses on international human rights law, international children’s rights, human rights accountability, and forced migration with a focus on internally displaced children in Africa. She is a member of the Global Network on Internal Displacement in Africa (GENIDA). She is also the Strategic Lead of the iKamva Initiative: Developing a New Generation of Female Legal Leaders in Africa. This is an initiative of the Faculty of Law at the University of Johannesburg, the South African Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges (SAC-IAWJ), Women in Law South Africa (WOZA) and Mapongwana Attorneys Inc funded by Co-Impact.

 

 

Mr Suhail Vawda

ORCID ID: 0009-0000-2521-2489

Designation: Lecturer

Qualifications: BA LLB LLM (UJ)  LLM (Cornell) LLD (candidate UJ)

Affiliation: University of Johannesburg Department: Department of Public Law Contact details: suhailv@uj.ac.za

Suhail was born in Barberton, Mpumalanga, and grew up in Johannesburg, and is an Assistant Lecturer in the department of Public Law and a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Johannesburg. Suhail has completed an LLM at Cornell Law School in International Law and African Development, an LLM with distinction in Labour Law, an LLB and a BA in Law and Historical Studies from the University of Johannesburg. Suhail was awarded the Fellowship at the Institute for African Development at Cornell University for the year 2022-2023. He was a visiting researcher at Cornell Law School in 2022 where he wrote “Women in Peacekeeping Missions as a Key to Combat Sexual Exploitation by Peacekeepers” to be published in the Cornell International Law Journal, Volume 56. He has presented at International Conferences in Zambia, the United States and Cyprus. Suhail has published two books, Herodotus, The Man Who Made History By Making History (2021) (Porcupine Press) and Introducing Africa To The West (2023) (Cornell University, IAD).

 

Ms Samantha Smit

ORCID: 0000000315253943

Designation: Law student Qualifications: BCom LLB (candidate) Affiliation: University of Johannesburg Department: Department of Public Law Contact details: samanthas@uj.ac.za

Samantha Smit is currently a registered 4th year LLB student at the University of Johannesburg. She has presented at various local and international conference on topics related to education, social security and investment law. She has also published in various accredited in local and international journal on these topics and is actively involved in moot court competitions at the Faculty.