Jonathan Sahli

Jonathan Sahli is the Co-Head of Litigation at Bowmans' Johannesburg office, specialising in dispute resolution, litigation and arbitration. He has successfully represented banks, insurers, financial institutions, mining houses, pharmaceutical companies, construction companies, and multinational clients across a wide range of sectors.

He has extensive experience in High Court litigation and private arbitration, with expertise in transactional disputes, contractual claims, mining-related litigation, insolvency and business rescue, and class action lawsuits. He is currently representing a multinational vehicle manufacturer in a groundbreaking class action lawsuit in South Africa involving billions of rands. Other notable matters include advising a multinational soft drink distributor on a novel business rescue arrangement resulting in savings of hundreds of millions of rands; successfully defending an American pharmaceutical company in a breach of contract claim where damages asserted were R37 million; and representing an international energy company with enforcement proceedings in Mauritius and South Africa. He has also worked on cross-border matters in Mozambique, Tanzania and Singapore, and has acted for a London-based international bank on disputed performance guarantees, a large Australian bank on multimillion-dollar loan recovery from a South African mining company, and a major South African bank on obtaining court orders to freeze stolen funds.

Jonathan holds an LL.B and a BA in Law and International Relations from Wits University. He is an accredited mediator with qualifications from the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement and the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in the United Kingdom, and attended the Leading Professional Services Firms Programme at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2021).