Biography: Management Labour and Employment

Fiona Leppan is a director of the employment practice. She has extensive experience in the field of employee relations both from a litigation perspective and in terms of strategic planning. Training and development in this field has been a focal point. She has actively trained clients on how to deal with internal disputes and to conduct enquiries and arbitrations. She has also established entire dispute resolution processes for a number of mining houses where disputes were dealt with by way of private conciliation and arbitration.

Fiona works in various industries including mining, metals, engineering, retail, broadcasting, financial services and the commercial distributive trade. She has also been involved in occupational health and safety work. Fiona is a member of the SEIFSA Industrial Relations Forum in the Metals' Industry.

Previously, Fiona has conducted many reported cases in the Land Claims, Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court, she has acted as an assessor in the previous Labour Appeal Court and was requested by the minister of justice to sit as an acting judge in the Labour Court.

Fiona has developed land law as an area of expertise, inclusive of community relocations and land claims, undertaken occupational health and safety work and conducted serious incident and fatal accident inquiries.

Fiona began her career as registrar to Mr Justice Margo in the then Supreme Court. In 1983 Fiona joined Webber Wentzel Bowens as a candidate attorney where she was later promoted to partner. Fiona then joined Deneys Reitz as a partner. In 1998, she left Deneys Reitz to establish the law firm Leppan Beech. In 2007, Fiona joined Cliffe Dekker (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr) as a director.