Robert became a consultant in January 2007 in the Corporate Department having previously been a Partner since July 2001. Robert is admitted as an attorney in South Africa and before joining Davenport Lyons in 1997 was a partner in the Johannesburg law firm, Bell Dewar & Hall.

Robert deals with a variety of transactional, corporate and corporate finance work including M&A, joint ventures, private equity and structured finance. Matters include on which Robert has worked include:

• M&A transactions for both buyers and sellers including equity transactions run by way of auction (transactions include acting for the Guardian Media Group and other lead shareholders on the sale of the Radio Investments group of 26 companies; for Macmillan Publishers on the purchase of an Argentinean publisher; for the Contender Entertainment group on the acquisition of a group holding a catalogue of DVD manufacturing and distribution licenses; for Chris Fowler International Ltd on its acquisition of a specialist printing business of Williams Lea plc).
• Group restructurings (including the demerger of the Argonaut Software group resulting in two new groups, the Argonaut Holdings group (games software) and the Arc Cores group (ARC microprocessor technology)).
• Private equity arrangements (including acting for the shareholders of a television production group on a reverse takeover onto AIM; for a purchaser of equity on a term loan facility secured over the assets of the target; and for investors taking equity both in startups and mature companies).
• Joint ventures (including acting for the Guardian Media Group on various multiplex digital radio consortiums; for the founder shareholder on the expansion of a yacht brokerage and charter business; for a broadcaster on a production and distribution joint venture) including shareholder agreements and ancillary matters.
• Structured finance arrangements including tax efficient partnership structures (including film and television partnerships for Teather & Greenwood Limited, Smith & Williamson, and Matrix-Securities Limited, and corporate bond and asset leasing transactions for Matrix-Securities Limited).