Dr. Henry Lerm
Henry was admitted as an Attorney of the High Court in 1985. Henry has a wide range of experience both, in practice as well as the academia. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela University and a Doctor in Law. Henry holds the degrees B. Proc, LLB, LLM and LLD (Univ. of Pretoria). The subject matter of the thesis for his Masters read: “Necrophilia: An Investigation into the Origin and Nature of the Crime in South African Law and Practice”. His thesis for his doctorate is titled ‘A Critical Analysis of Exclusionary Clauses in Medical Contracts’.
Henry was in private practice until 2003 when he joined Legal Aid South Africa in the capacity as Justice Centre Executive, where he served as Head of Office until his retirement in December 2018. He has since joined the staff at the Nelson Mandela University where he assists at the Nelson Mandela Law Clinic at the Missionvale campus in Port Elizabeth. He has also been utilized as a lecturer in various subjects inter alia Criminology, Private International Law and Legal Ethics.
Henry is a respected member of the legal fraternity in the Eastern Cape where he has served on various committees involving the legal profession, especially the functioning of the courts, access to justice etc. He is a former President of the Attorneys Association of the South Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth. He has appeared in both the High Court and lower courts, including the Magistrate and Regional courts.
He has held membership of a number of esteemed organizations. Currently, he serves as the National Deputy Chairperson – Legal, of the South African Medico-Legal Association (“SAMLA”) and Henry serves as the Branch Chairperson for the Eastern Cape of SAMLA. Henry has been a member of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers in excess of 30 years.
His memberships of legal organizations include, functioning as a lecturer at the Practical Legal Training School, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University sine 1999 where he has taught a variety of subjects, including Procedural Law, Constitutional Law and High Court Practice. Henry was engaged by the Legal Education and Development department of the Law Society of South Africa in 2009 and has since tutored many practising attorneys around the country in the Law of Contract, Legal Writing for Litigation (acted as co-facilitator), Medical Law and Ethics; Advanced Medical Law; Legal Interpretation. He became the first attorney appointed by the Law Society of South Africa to reach out to the medical profession to teach Medical law and Ethics to the medical profession.
Henry has published articles in law journals including the following topics “The right to silence under siege”; “Two Heads Are Better than One”- Assessors In High Court Civil Cases “; “Expert Witnesses: Beware of the Hired Gun”; Exclusionary Clauses Revisited In The South African Context”; Fracking: An Energy Dream Come True or an Environmental Nightmare? Medico Legal Practice – Do we need a paradigm shift? He delivered papers at conferences including “Cross Examination How Powerful Thy Sword”; “Corruption – The Origin, Nature and Historical Development of the Crime in Perspective”; “The Impact of the Consumer Protection Act on the Medical Care Services”; “Minimizing the risk of Malpractice Litigation” and “Palliative Care as a Form of Relief for the Dying: A South African Perspective”.
Henry has over the years delivered a number of papers at conferences, seminars and workshops. Recently, he has taken part in a number of panel discussions involving COVID-19 related topics.
He has a passion for both Medical law and Constitutional law and has been involved in a number of constitutional impact matters concerning bail, contract law, housing and sanitation.
