Mabel Jansen (judge)
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BA LLB
BA (Hons) French
Stellenbosch University
Mabel Jansen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Maria Mabel Jansen |
| Citizenship | South African citizenship |
| Education | LLM BA LLB BA (Hons) French |
| Alma mater | UNISA Stellenbosch University |
| Occupation | Former High Court Judge |
| Years active | 22–23[1] |
| Employer | Gauteng High Court |
| Title | Judge of the High Court |
| Children | 2 daughters |
| Relatives | Ernest George Jansen (grandfather), Martha Mabel Jansen (grandmother) |
| Awards | Johannes Voet medal[2][3] Grotius medal[3] |
Mabel Jansen SC is a former judge of the High Court of Gauteng and a lawyer specialising in intellectual property, mercantile and constitutional law. She has acted on behalf of many of the large companies in South Africa and has chaired several commissions of enquiry.[1] She was the first woman to be elected chair of the Pretoria Bar Association.[4] Jansen appeared in court in South Africa's first case concerning patents for genetic engineering.[3]
In May 2017, she retired from the bar after media reports and a Judicial Service Commission investigation into opinions she expressed during an online conversation that the incidence of rape, child rape, and murder in South African black communities was due to those crimes being a pastime for black men [5]
Jansen graduated from Stellenbosch University with a BA (Hons) in French and initially worked as an advertising copywriter at De Villiers and Schonfeldt where she was involved in the creation of advertisements for Rembrandt Group, Wonderbra, Caltex, the Dried Fruit Board and other companies. Part of her responsibilities was the translation of the English advertisements into Afrikaans.[1][3] She obtained a BA LLB (cum laude) followed by an LLM (cum laude) in property law from UNISA.[3] The Pretoria Bar Association awarded her the Voet medal (named in honour of Johannes Voet) for the best final-year law student,[2][3] as well as the Grotius Medal for most outstanding law student.[3]
In 1994, Jansen was appointed an advocate of the Society of Advocates of SA and was appointed a Senior Counsel. At the time she was one of only two women practicing as advocates; by 2006 there were 80 female advocates but only 3 of them were senior counsel.[4] Clients that she has acted on behalf of include Cipla Medpro, Bayer, McDonald's, The Body Shop, Pritt, Parmalat, Vodacom, Kellogg's, Monsanto, Cadbury's, Bakers Limited, the Whisky Association, Telkom, Ericsson, Sasol, Harley Davidson, Verimark, Mars, the Rembrand companies, BMW, and Adcock Ingram.[1] She has appeared in over 150 court cases.[3]
Jansen has chaired several Commissions of Enquiry, including the investigation into the misdemeanours of Vice Chancellor A.T. Mokadi of the Vaal University of Technology, which uncovered fraud and corruption.[3][6] This led to Mokadi's dismissal, although he was later re-instated (three times) after the charges of fraud and corruption were dropped.[7] She also acted on behalf of the State Theatre, Pretoria, in the matter of Gaynor Young, who survived a fall of 18 metres (59 ft) down an open stage shaft at the theatre in 1989.[1][8][9]
She was appointed a judge of the Gauteng High Court on 1 December 2013.[1][10] Jansen has served as a member of the executive committee of the General Council of the Bar; served one term as the vice-chair of the general council and as chair of the Pretoria Society of Advocates in 2003 and 2004.[3][4]