The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel today sent his condolences and that of the South African Government to the family, friends and colleagues of the late Rob Legh, the Chairman of one of the country’s largest law firms, Bowmans.
Rob passed away on Thursday evening, 1 July 2021, from complications associated with Covid-19, at age 59. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn and his children, India and Tommy.
“Rob was a true patriot. He had a deep love for his country and believed strongly in a better future for all citizens and in pursuit of this goal, he was active in organised business. His untimely passing away is devastating to his family and is a real loss to the business community and to South Africa. In addition to being an exceptional lawyer, he was a true gentleman, a kind and humble man and deeply caring of people. He will be deeply mourned and his colleagues and I will miss his wise counsel,” Minister Patel said.
“I worked closely with Rob Legh in 2018 on the Competition Amendment Bill, where he represented the business community. Rob was insightful and played an important role during the talks. He contributed generously of his time and ideas and helped me to identify solutions that took account of the needs of the business and investor community whilst enabling the achievement of public policy objectives,” Minister Ebrahim Patel said today.
“Rob Legh was a pioneer of competition law in this country, and founded Bowmans’ Competition Practice in 1998. He spearheaded a number of high-profile merger control transactions and in the process helped shape competition law jurisprudence in South Africa. He was the principal legal advisor to Coca Cola during talks I held in 2016 with the company that led to a ground-breaking agreement on public interest issues that has continued to define the country’s policy framework. Last year during the Covid lockdown, Rob advised my Ministry on a pro-bono basis on matters relating to industry and prior to that he was always available to provide feedback whenever needed,” Minister Patel said.
Rob Legh was the Chairman and Senior Partner of Bowmans. He has spent his entire professional career at Bowmans, having joined the firm in 1986 and became a partner in 1992. Most recently he led the Labour Market working group for the Business 4 South Africa’s Covid -19 initiative.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe-Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: (012) 394 1650
Mobile: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade and Industry (the dtic)
Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti
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