Paul Esselaar is an admitted attorney and notary. He completed his BA, LLB at Rhodes University in Grahamstown in 1997 and attended the School for Legal Practice at the University of Cape Town in 2000. He went on to complete his articles and then returned to the University of Cape Town and completed his LLM in Electronic and Commercial Law in 2003.

In 2011 Paul started his own law firm, Esselaar Attorneys and he subsequently started a legal compliance company, Novation Consulting (Pty) Ltd with Elizabeth de Stadler in 2013 which focuses on innovative legal communication (legal stuff you can understand).

Paul has a broad background in commercial law including experience in intellectual property disputes, web design, online dispute resolution and software design. He is the past deputy chairperson of the Cape Chamber of Commerce ICT committee and a current member of the Cape Law Society’s ICT committee. He is also a co-author of the Guide the Protection of Personal Information Act and lectures extensively on consumer law topics including cybercrime, electronic signatures, the National Credit Act, the Consumer Protection Act and the Protection of Personal Information Act.

Since 2008 Paul has been appeal adjudicator for disputes based on the Wireless Application Service Providers Association (WASPA) Code of Conduct and he is also an appeal adjudicator for the Internet Service Provider’s Association (ISPA).

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