At the first general partners meeting of the new financial year of law firm Adams & Adams, Gérard du Plessis was elected Chairman of the partnership.  Du Plessis is the youngest partner in the history of the firm to step up to the helm.

Du Plessis succeeds Dario Tanziani, who served as Chairman for three years.

Du Plessis has been a partner in the firm since 1998 and chairman of the firm’s trade mark litigation department for 8 years.  He has also served as one of six partners on the firm’s Management Committee for 7 years.

Du Plessis’s particular field of expertise is High Court litigation relating to trade marks, copyright, designs, unlawful competition, domain names and counterfeit goods matters.  He has over the years represented many Fortune 500 clients and SA Top 300 clients in the enforcement of their intellectual property rights in South Africa.

Du Plessis has been listed in the International Who’s Who of Trademark Lawyers and Chambers Global Attorneys Guide, consistently for many years.

Du Plessis is a respected, active and longstanding member of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law, Pretoria Attorneys’ Association, Law Society of the Northern Provinces, Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope and the Natal Law Society. In his private life he has many interests and is a keen sportsman, including in the field of road running, having completed the Two Oceans ultra marathon a number of times.

Du Plessis comes from a family deeply entrenched in the law.  His late father, Willie du Plessis, was the managing partner at Rooth & Wessels.  His mother, Professor Esmé du Plessis, was a partner of Adams & Adams until she retired in 2003, and still is a full time consultant to the firm.  She also served as President of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces as well as the Law Society of South Africa and many other leadership positions, particularly in the intellectual property world.  His brother, Wildu du Plessis, is also an attorney and a partner of Baker & McKenzie in Sandton.  His wife, Mariëtte, an attorney specialising in trade mark law, is also a senior partner at Adams & Adams.

Du Plessis says this of his appointment: “I am truly honoured to have the confidence of my partners to take on the challenge of chairmanship.  Our firm has been prospering despite difficult economic conditions globally and this can only be ascribed to hard work and good leadership.  It will not be easy to fill the shoes of my predecessor, but with the support of my partners I look forward to representing the firm as chairman”.