How to Find the Right Adams & Adams Practice Area for Your Legal Issue

Updated

Start by matching your issue to one of the firm's five listed practice areas: Intellectual Property; Corporate & Commercial; Dispute Resolution; Competition Law & Anti-trust; and Real Estate & Property Law. If your matter is a dispute, look one level deeper into the Dispute Resolution sub-areas (anti-corruption and bribery, constitutional and administrative law, banking and finance, construction law, family law, personal injury law) before contacting the firm. This guide applies to anyone trying to route a legal question to the correct Adams & Adams team; it does not assess whether you have a case or which forum you should use.

Step 1: Classify your issue against the five practice areas

Use the descriptions on the firm's Practice Areas page as your first filter. The table below maps common issue types to the practice area the firm lists them under.

If your issue is about… Look first at… What the firm says it covers
Trade marks, copyright, designs, patents, licensing, plant breeders' rights Intellectual Property Acquisition, protection, enforcement and commercialisation of IP rights; licensing of trade marks, patents, designs and plant breeders' rights
Company structuring, commercial contracts, transactions, serving public/private companies, private equity, financial institutions, government entities Corporate & Commercial Counsel to public and private companies, private equity firms, financial institutions, government entities and individuals across Africa and globally
A live dispute, claim or defence Dispute Resolution Specialised teams including anti-corruption and bribery, constitutional and administrative law, banking and finance, construction law, family law and personal injury law
Mergers, market conduct, competition compliance Competition Law & Anti-trust Work across public transport, online payment platforms and agricultural sectors; a stated presence in property development
Property transactions, development, real estate matters Real Estate & Property Law South African property market practice, drawing on experts across other legal disciplines in the firm

Two overlaps are worth noting before you choose. First, IP licensing and commercialisation sit inside Intellectual Property, not Corporate & Commercial, so a trade mark licence or patent assignment belongs with the IP team. Second, competition questions in property development are handled by the Competition team, which the firm describes as a prominent presence in that sector — not by the property team alone.

Step 2: Split disputes into the right sub-area

Dispute Resolution is the broadest entry point, so narrow it yourself before making contact. The firm lists these sub-areas: anti-corruption and bribery, constitutional and administrative law, banking and finance, construction law, family law, and personal injury law.

  • Construction law vs. property law: a dispute over a building contract or works defect is a construction dispute, even though the underlying asset is property. A purchase, sale or development question without a live dispute goes to Real Estate & Property Law.
  • Banking and finance disputes vs. corporate work: a claim or regulatory dispute involving a financial institution goes to Dispute Resolution; routine commercial contracting for the same institution goes to Corporate & Commercial.
  • Family law and personal injury: these are listed only under Dispute Resolution, so there is no separate practice area page to look for.

Step 3: Confirm the team on the practice area page, then make contact

The Practice Areas page is an overview; each area has its own page describing the team and services. Use those pages to confirm the team handles your specific technical field — the firm notes that its IP work spans "various technical fields," which matters for patent matters in particular.

Before contacting the firm, prepare a short summary that states:

  1. The practice area and, for disputes, the sub-area you believe applies.
  2. The jurisdiction or countries involved — the firm describes itself as operating across the African continent and serving clients globally, so cross-border matters should say so up front.
  3. Whether the matter is advisory, transactional or a live dispute, since that determines urgency.

The site's only listed sign-up mechanism is a newsletter subscription form; it does not publish a pricing schedule or an online intake process. Do not assume a free initial consultation — the site's pricing-related links point only to pro bono contributions and the newsletter, not to fee information.

Common sticking points

  • Treating "commercial law" as a catch-all. IP commercialisation and licensing are explicitly under Intellectual Property, so route those there.
  • Sending a dispute to a transactional team. The firm separates Dispute Resolution from Corporate & Commercial; a claim or defence should go to the disputes side.
  • Assuming every sub-area has its own page. Family law and personal injury appear only as Dispute Resolution sub-areas in the source material, so search within that practice rather than expecting a standalone page.
  • Overlooking competition issues in property work. The Competition team is described as prominent in property development, so a development matter with a competition dimension may need both teams.