Prof I Esser

Qualifications

LLB (Stell) LLM (Aberdeen) LLD (Unisa)

Field of Specialisation

Corporate Law and Corporate Governance

Books

• MK Havenga, I Esser, WD Geach, N Locke, MR Vermaas, DP Mahony South African Corporate Administration Revision Service (revised chapters 1, 15 and 15A) (2008, 2009 and 2010).
• Esser, I “Recognition of Various Stakeholder Interests in Company Management” VDM Dr Muller Publishers (2009) 348 pages (ISBN: 978-3-639-16412-1).
• Co-author of section on “Company Law” in the South African Annual Survey (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013).
• Contributor (PA Delport (author), Q Vorster (author), I Esser, S Lombard, D Burdette (contributors)) Henochsberg on the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (first edition).
• I Esser & MK Havenga (eds) Corporate Governance Annual Review 2012.

Journal articles

Publications and Presentations

Refereed/Peer-Reviewed Articles in Accredited Journals and Peer-Reviewed Conference Proceedings (since 2005)

• Irene-marie Esser “The Enlightened Shareholder Value Approach versus Plurism in the Management of Companies” Obiter 2005 (26) 719-725.
• Monique du Preez and Irene-marie Esser “Public Places and the Owners’ Duty of Care towards Visitors” Tydskrif van die Suid Afrikaanse Reg 2005 (1) 208-214.
• Irene-marie Esser “The Position of Street Children and South African Legislation” De Jure 2006 (2) 385-404.
• Christa Roodt and Irene-marie Esser, “Venue in Transnational Litigation: Party Autonomy adds New Impetus to the ‘Judgment Project’” SA Merc LJ 2006 (18) 13-30.
• Irene-marie Esser “Stakeholder Protection: The Position of Employees” THRHR 2007 70 (3) 407.
• Irene-marie Esser and Jean Du Plessis “The Stakeholder Debate and Directors’ Fiduciary Duties” SA Merc LJ 2007 (19) 346-363.
• Irene-marie Esser “Company Law and the Spoliated Director: Greaves v Barnard” SA Merc LJ 2008 (20) 135-145.
• Irene-marie Esser “A Global African Perspective on Corporate Governance: The Protection of Stakeholders’ Interests” South African Yearbook of International Law 2008 (32) 406-429.
• Irene-marie Esser and Adriette Dekker peer-reviewed conference proceedings (ISBN 10: 87-991385-4-9) “The Dynamics in Corporate Governance in South Africa: Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment and the Enhancement of Good Corporate Governance Principles” in Business and Law: Theory and Practice (2008) 94-111.
• Irene-marie Esser and Michele Havenga “Shareholder Participation in Corporate Governance” Speculum Juris 2008(1) 74-94.
• Irene-marie Esser “Stakeholder Protection and the Position of Consumers” THRHR (2009) 72(3) 407-429.
• Irene-marie Esser “The Protection of Stakeholder Interests in terms of the South African King III Report on Corporate Governance” SA Merc LJ (2009) (2)
• International peer reviewed Conference proceedings: M Havenga & I Esser “Directors’ Environmental Responsibilities in South African Law” in 1st International Conference on Governance, Fraud, Ethics, Social Responsibility at 177-206 (ISBN: 978-975-374-101-9).
• Irene-marie Esser & Piet Delport “The duty of care, skill and diligence: The King Report and the 2008 Companies Act” Journal of Contemporary Roman Dutch Law (2011) August .
• Irene-marie Esser “Corporate Social Responsibility: A Company Law Perspective” SA Merc LJ (2011) 3
• I Esser “Shareholder interests and good corporate governance in South Africa” (Journal of Contemporary Roman Dutch Law (May, 2014)).

Paper presentations

Local Conference Presentations

• Irene-marie Esser, “The Position of Street Children and South African Legislation” presented at the Law Teachers Conference at the University of Cape Town (July 2006).

International Conference Presentations

• Christa Roodt and Irene-marie Esser, “Venue in Transnational Litigation: Party Autonomy adds New Impetus to the ‘Judgment Project’” (Presented by I Esser at an International Conference on Private International Law in September 2005 at UNISA).
• Irene-marie Esser “A Global African Perspective on Corporate Governance: The Protection of Stakeholders’ Interests” presented at the International Law Association Regional Conference at Unisa on Good Governance and Non-State Actors in International Law: An African Perspective (2007).
• Irene-marie Esser and Michele Havenga “Shareholder Participation in Corporate Governance” presented at the Corporate Law Teachers Conference in Australia, Sydney (February 2008).
• Irene-marie Esser & Adriette Dekker “The Dynamics in Corporate Governance in South Africa: Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment and the Enhancement of Good Corporate Governance Principles” presented at the 2nd International Conference on Business, Law and Technology (IBLT), New York (June 2008).
• M Havenga & I Esser “Directors’ Environmental Responsibilities in South African Law” presented at the international Corporate Social Responsibility Conference, Edirne, Turkey (June 2009).
• “The Protection of Stakeholder Interests in terms of the South African King III Report on Corporate Governance” in September 2009 at the 8th International Corporate Social Responsibility Conference in Cape Town.
• Invited paper: “The Enhancement of Shareholder and Stakeholder Interests in the New South African Companies Act” International Conference: “The Function of the Law before Crises; A Comparative Corporate Governance Exploration”, during December 2011 at Stellenbosch University (with the University of Maastricht).
• Invited to attend the International Corporate Governance and Law Forum in Muenster, Germany as a delegate.

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

Admitted Attorney of the High Court of SA

• Women in Research Award: Youngest staff member with a doctorate degree at Unisa (2009).
• Principal’s Prize for Excellence in Research (2009).
• National Research Foundation of South Africa, Thuthuka Grant (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010).
• Various grants to conduct research received from the Research and Higher Degrees Committee of Unisa (2006 - current).

Other

Leadership roles

• Member of the Disciplinary Council of the University of South Africa (students and staff members) (2008- ).
• I served on the Disciplinary Council of the University of Stellenbosch (2001).
• Judge of the Student Court: University of Stellenbosch (2001).

International collaboration

• She often serves as a chair, panel member and discussant at international conferences. (For example at the 2nd International Conference on Business, Law and Technology (IBLT), Long Island, New York, USA (2008); the 8th International Corporate Social Responsibility Conference held in Cape Town during September 2009 and the 1st International Workshop on Trans-border Commercial Law during October 2009.)
• She did research at many overseas universities during 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 on research visits. She visited various libraries and academics in Australia (Melbourne, Sydney), New Zealand (Palmerston-North, Wellington), England (London, Leeds), Scotland (Aberdeen, Edinburgh) and the United States (New York).

Submissions to national committees

During July 2008 she was asked to provide the King III Committee on Corporate Governance with comments on the section dealing with “stakeholder protection”. She furthermore submitted comments to the Department of Trade and Industry on the first draft of the Companies Bill (2007) and subsequently to Parliament on the final version of the Bill (2008).

University committees at Unisa

• Member of Senate (2006-2008).
• Member of the Research and Higher Degrees Committee (2008).
• Member of the Library Committee (2006).
• Task team at Unisa: Stakeholder Engagement (UN Global Compact Project) (2009).
• Member of the staff and student disciplinary committees at Unisa (2008 - current).

External examiner

• External examiner in company law at the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, the University of Stellenbosch, and Midrand Graduate Institute (2008, 2009).
• External examiner for LLM students at the Universities of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and Stellenbosch.

Other

• Presented a workshop on corporate governance at JD Group in Johannesburg (2010).
• Presented a guest lecture on the new Companies Act at Edinburgh University (2010).
• Presented a guest lecture on the new King III Report and general corporate governance issues at the University of Johannesburg (2009).
• Presented a guest lecture to Company Law LLM students at the University of the Witwatersrand (2009).
• Presented a 2 day workshop on the new Companies Act to delegates from Southern Sudan at the Centre for African Renaissance Studies (2009).
• Presented a 5 day workshop on Board Governance at the University of Johannesburg (September 2009).
• Presented a lecture on company law at an advanced short course on Environmental Management hosted by Unisa (2008, 2009).
• Presented a lecture on the different business forms at the Certificate Programme in Law hosted by Unisa (August 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009).
• Presented a public lecture on street children at the women’s day celebrations at Unisa (August 2006).
• Guest lecturer on occasion at the University of Johannesburg (then Rand Afrikaans University) and the University of the Witwatersrand (2004).
• External examiner at various universities.
• Reviewer for various journal articles and books.