John Kirkpatrick was born and raised in Namibia. He matriculated at Diocesan College (Bishops) and obtained his BA degree from UCT where he was a member of the Students Representative Council.
John went on to study for his LLB degree part-time through Unisa while he completed his national service. For the duration of his service he was seconded to the Department of Customs and Excise. John served his articles of clerkship at Findlay & Tait Attorneys (Bowmans) in Cape Town and also practised as an associate and director at Silberbauers Inc. He was an examiner for the Attorneys Admission Examinations.
Prior to leaving the attorneys’ profession and joining the Bar in 2000, John was a director at Cliffe Dekker Fuller Moore (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr). He practised as an advocate at the Cape Bar from 2000 to 2011.
John opened Kirkpatrick Attorneys in 2012. His vision was to found a legal firm dedicated to the provision of outstanding, focused, personalized and affordable legal representation.
The interesting matters in which John Kirkpatrick has acted include the following:
- Represented a Petrochemical Company in its litigation in South Africa
- Pursued a USD 32 million shipping mortgage claim for a Swiss Bank (National Iranian Oil Company v Banque Paribas Suisse SA and Another 1993(4) SA 1 (AD)
- Opposed three liquidation applications launched against the Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid Company
- Lead evidence of certain witnesses resident in South Africa on a Wills and Probate matter pending in a New York District Court pursuant to and in terms of an order of that court
- Represented the United Nations in the recovery in South Africa of UNTAG vehicles stolen in Namibia and recovered in South Africa
- Represented the charterers of the Russian government-owned research vessel, the MV Akademik Fyodorov, in the arrest proceedings instituted against this vessel at Cape Town while en route to the Antarctica (Government of the Russian Federation v Maritime Expeditions Inc 1996 (4) SA 422 (C)
- Represented a rape victim in a damages action against the South African Government on instruction from a church
- Represented ship masters and crew of foreign vessels as the legal representative of the International Transport Federation in wage negotiations and legal proceedings against recalcitrant foreign ship owners
- Defended a financial services company against claims for negligence
- Advised a state owned enterprise on BBEE policy
- Represented certain heirs against an attack on the validity of a will involving a multi-million estate
- Opposed the constitutional attack upon provisions of the Intestate Succession Act (Flynn v Farr NO and Others 2009 (1) SA 584 (C)
- On retainer for a construction company having a multi billion rand order book
Reported Decisions
Acted in the following:
- Babel Shipping Co and Others v MV Rosario Del Mar 1995 (1) SA 716 (C)
- Transnet Ltd t/a Portnet v Pentow Marine (Pty) Ltd and the MV Argos 1994 (2) SA 700 (C)
- Trans Orient Steel Ltd v Sunnyface Maritime Ltd and Great River Shipping Inc 1992 (2) SA 653 (C)
- MV Rio Apa v Amalgamated Steel Mills Berhad SCOSA D60 (D)