OVERVIEW
The Armstrongs Litigation & Arbitration team comprises five attorneys, two of whom (John Carr-Hartley and Moemedi Tafa) are Partners. John Carr-Hartley has more than 32 years’ experience as a litigation and arbitration attorney and Moemedi Tafa has more than 10 years’ experience. With this level of experience, the team enjoys a formidable reputation for its expertise in the field of both litigation and arbitration.
Principally, we litigate in the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Industrial Court, however, we also undertake litigation in the Land Tribunal.
Due to the fact that Botswana is a fairly small jurisdiction, the litigation conducted by the firm covers a fairly broad spectrum. This includes all forms of commercial litigation, trial advocacy, international and local commercial arbitrations, construction and civil engineering arbitrations, disputes at Dispute Adjudication Boards, and labour matters.
Notable Instructions:
- Moemedi has, in recent years, acted for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in all matters that have been instituted against SADC at the recently established SADC Administrative Tribunal.
- John was Instructed by, and acted for, six judges of the Botswana Court of Appeal and the Chief Justice of Botswana in three separate matters.
- Appointment as Chairman of the Dispute Adjudication Board for the construction of the Kazungula Bridge Project, Package II.
- Junior Counsel and Attorney of Record in an International Arbitration pertaining to the listing of a company on the Malawian Stock Exchange.
- Counsel for aircraft owner and operator in respect of a claim against an Aircraft Maintenance Organisation pertaining to a fatal aircraft accident.
- Counsel to Debswana Diamond company in respect of both litigation and arbitrations arising out of disputes on the FIDIC suite of Contracts.
- Between John and Moemedi they have more than 130 reported Judgments in the Botswana Law Reports – the most of any other litigation attorneys
