‘Employment law is the one practice area in a corporate law firm where one works daily with various rights protected in the Bill of Rights – the right to equality, the right to fair labour practices, the right to privacy, the right to freedom of association, the right to human dignity. This, together with the principle of fairness, is what drew me to employment law, and later data protection law’, says Talita.

Clients rely on her to provide practical, excellent advice – usually within fast turnaround times.

When assisting a client with an employment law problem, her approach is to listen with an open mind and provide options, which would differ according to the associated legal, business and employee relations risks. All these risks must be weighed up, and ultimately the client must be empowered to make the most informed decision possible.

In the employment law domain, she regularly advises on the employment consequences of commercial transactions, dismissals and the drafting of employment contracts. She is particularly interested in law of unfair discrimination and was part of the team who advised Business Unity South Africa on the amendments to the Employment Equity Act and the Regulations pertaining to equal pay which took effect in 2014. This interest in discrimination law as fostered through her exposure to foreign discrimination law, first as a participant in the International Human Rights Training Programme in Montreal, Canada, in 1996 and later as a student of Employment Discrimination and International Law at Emory, USA.

Talita is also at the forefront of data protection developments. She and her team developed a Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) toolkit to enable employers to ensure compliance. However, her expertise on data protection extends beyond the employment relationship and she advises on all aspects of data protection.

Although many of the matters she deals with are time-sensitive, speed should not be at the expense of a quality solution. Talita is adept at maintaining the balance and at identifying circumstances where it is necessary to tread carefully and patiently rather than hastily.

Talita works with a team she describes as ‘brilliant’, while noting that the buck stops with herself as the partner.

Talita has acted as a judge in Labour Court.

She is also a keen researcher and has published extensively. She co-authored Sibergramme’s Contracts of Employment with Chris Todd and contributes two chapters to Employment Equity Law, an academic textbook on employment equity.