Cloete Rian

Biography

Professor Rian Cloete joined the Department in January 1993 after completing his articles of clerkship at the law firm of Couzyn Hertzog & Horak Inc. The University of South Africa (UNISA) conferred the LLD degree on him in 2001. The title of his doctoral dissertation was “Incorporeal things in the new South African law of things”.  In July 2012 he was promoted to Head of the Department Procedural Law. An admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa and member of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces, he specialises in Professional Conduct and Ethics and is actively involved with the Law Society of South Africa. He has been the Director and course leader of the University of Pretoria School for Legal Practice since 1999. The School is accredited by the Law Society of South Africa and offers training to candidate attorneys. The School has had enormous success in terms of not only the results achieved in the national admission examinations, but also for its candidates, who have become sought after in the legal fraternity. Most of them are today in private practice all over South Africa. Rian established the Sports Law Centre at the highperformancecentre™ of the University of Pretoria in 2002 and serves as Director. The mission of the Centre is to provide a centre of excellence in providing high quality services, research and courses to the sporting world at large. The Sports Law Centre have become the leading centre of its kind in South Africa and are proud to have the United Cricket Board of South Africa, SuperSport, Mpumalanga Academy of Sport, Law Society of South Africa and the Department of Sport and Recreation as clients. The Centre has also gained international recognition. A memorandum of understanding was entered into between the Sports Law Centre, University of Pretoria and the world renowned Asser International Sports Law Centre, c/o T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague, Netherlands. In terms of the agreement, both institutions agreed to collaborate in research and educational projects. Rian is a board member of the Asser International Sports Law Journal and an executive member of the South African Sports Lawyers Association (SLASA).

Research Interest

Rian conducts most of his research on attorneys practice and sports law and also presents a number of undergraduate, postgraduate and extra-curricular courses in these fields.