Professional background and experience:

Paul Carstensen holds a B.Comm degree and an LL.B degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. After practising as an Attorney, he joined the Johannesburg Bar in 1991 and took silk in 2014. Paul achieved accreditation as a mediator from Conflict Dynamics and the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) in 2013 and from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in 2014. He joined the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) Panel of Arbitrators in 2018. Paul appears in arbitrations, before tribunals and in all the High Courts throughout South Africa including the Supreme Court of Appeal. He is also admitted to practice in Lesotho and appears in Swaziland. He has a general commercial practice with an emphasis on Banking and Financial services, Company, Property, Insurance, Insolvency, Mining and Environmental Law. Paul has been an advocacy trainer for many years and an oral examiner for the Bar “civil trial” examination since 1998. He has also held many appointments as an acting Judge in the Johannesburg High Court since 2013.

Mediation experience and style:

Since Paul’s training and accreditation in 2013 and 2014, he has regularly appeared as a Mediator in Commercial, Contractual, Education, Sport and Family mediations.