Brent Williams

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr

Brent Williams is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, in the role since April 2011.

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is a South African corporate law firm with over 350 lawyers and offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Nairobi, Stellenbosch, Ongwediva and Windhoek. When appointed, Williams was the first Black legal professional to head a major national corporate law firm in South Africa.

In the job

  1. Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr announced a strong showing across its Africa practices in the Chambers Global 2026 rankings. Source

  2. Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr appointed Phetheni Nkuna as chief operating officer from 1 April 2026. Source

Career before

  1. 1989Candidate attorney, Y Ebrahim & Co
  2. 1995Director, Y Ebrahim & Co
  3. 2003Partner and director, Corporate and Commercial, Cliffe Dekker
  4. 2004Member of the management committee, Cliffe Dekker
  5. 2012Independent non-executive chairman, Sephaku Holdings

Education

BA, University of Cape Town; BProc, University of the Western Cape; LLM, Harvard Law School

Sources

  1. cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com
  2. cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com
  3. africa-legal.com
  4. capitalfm.africa

Facts last checked 3 November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

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