Lea-né Kapnoudhis is a senior associate in our Johannesburg office’s Dispute Resolution Department and is a member of the Construction Practice. 

Lea-né specialises in construction and engineering law with a specific focus on both corporate construction law as well as construction litigation matters. 

She has assisted in a number of disputes arising mainly from standard form construction contracts such as FIDIC, NEC and JBCC. She also assisted lenders as well as sponsors in the negotiations of the Construction Contracts for big Construction Projects.

Lea-né holds a BCom and an LLB from the University of Stellenbosch.

Relevant Experience

Lea-né was a member of the teams advising:

• A leading power supplier in defending numerous claims made by a contractor on two of the largest power stations in South Africa. Lea-né ‘s role in this matter consisted of assisting with drafting of pleadings and witness statements, preparing witnesses to appear in front of a DAB; general administrative task relating to an adjudication and research on the legal argument presented in front of the DAB.
• A large engineering services company in adjudication of contractual disputes involving various employer and contractor claims. Lea-né’s role consisted of reviewing and analyzing documents relevant to the disputes; drafting the pleadings and witness statements; advising the client of the merits of their case; preparing for the adjudication and arbitration and assisting client on an ongoing basis with issues relating to disputes.
• A large engineering services company in successfully claiming the issue of a Taking Over Certificate and return of Retention Monies under the FIDIC Yellow Book. Lea-né ‘s role in this matter consisted of assisting in the court procedure to enforce the arbitration order handed down.
• An international company in advanced technologies for the metals and mining industries in an arbitration against its Employer for claims related to deeming provisions under NEC3. Lea-né ‘s role consists of reviewing and analyzing documents relevant to the dispute; drafting the pleadings and witness statements; attending to research and advising the client of the merits of their case and preparing for the arbitration.
• An international company in advanced technologies for the metal and mining industries in an adjudication against its Employer for claims related to termination costs under the NEC3. This matter was referred to arbitration and we assisted the client with the arbitration proceedings as well. Lea-né ‘s role in this matter consisted of reviewing and analyzing documents relevant to the dispute; drafting the pleadings; attending to research and advising the client of the merits of their case and preparing for the adjudication and arbitration.
• An international company on the FIDIC Green Book in recovering outstanding monies due for commissioning services on the Kpone Power Project in Ghana. Lea-né ‘s role consisted of reviewing and analyzing documents relevant to the dispute; drafting the pleadings and witness statements; attending to research and advising the client of the merits of their case and preparing for the arbitration.
• An international company in the railway sector with an adjudication against its Employer for claims relating to extension of time, associated costs and termination costs under a bespoke contract, roughly based on FIDIC Yellow. Lea-né ‘s role consisted of reviewing and analyzing documents relevant to the dispute; drafting the pleadings and witness statements; attending to research and advising the client of the merits of their case and preparing for the arbitration.
• The Sponsor Team on the Beitbridge Border Post Project. Lea-né ‘s role consisted of reviewing the project agreements and attending the negotiations between the parties on the project agreements.
• The Lender Group for the TEG Pipeline Project. Lea-né ‘s role consisted of reviewing and amending the project agreements and negotiating the amended project agreements.
• The team in amending FIDIC Red, White and Yellow books in order to make it project specific. Lea-né ‘s role consisted of drafting and amending the agreements.
• The team in reviewing a Project Agreement and FIDIC Silver Book Agreement for a Roads Project in Kenya to ensure that a proper pass-down has been done. My role consisted of reviewing the FIDIC Silver Book and other relevant project agreements and drafting an issues list of instances where the pass down of obligation had not been done. My role further included negotiating the issue list and amending the FIDIC silver book in order to reflect the issues mentioned in the issues list.
• The team in reviewing a Power Purchase Agreement and FIDIC Silver Book Agreement for a Hydro Power Project in Kenya to ensure that a proper pass-down has been done. My role consisted of reviewing the FIDIC Silver Book and the Power Purchase Agreement and drafting an issues list of instances where the pass down of obligation had not been done. My role further included negotiating the issue list and amending the FIDIC silver book in order to reflect the issues mentioned in the issues list.
• The team in drafting a FIDIC Silver Book for a large engineering services company for a Gas Cleaning Project. My role consisted of attending meetings with the client and thereafter making the relevant amendments to the FIDIC Silver Book in order to reflect the client’s project specific requirements.

• Thomson Reuters: Contract Formation and Enforcement in South Africa: Overview