The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) is a human rights organisation based in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

with offices in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

(including a Constitutional Litigation Unit),

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

and

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London. Makhanda is the largest town in the Makana ...

. It was founded in 1979 by a group of prominent South African lawyers, including Arthur Chaskalson,

Felicia Kentridge Felicia, Lady Kentridge (née Geffen; 7 August 1930 – 7 June 2015) was a South African lawyer and anti-apartheid activist who co-founded the South African Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in 1979. The LRC represented black South Africans against ...

, and Geoff Budlender, under the guidance of American civil rights lawyers Jack Greenberg and Michael Meltsner, then Director-Counsel and former First Assistant Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund respectively. The LRC is a generalist public interest law firm that engages in litigation and other activities across a wide range of focus areas, including the full range of rights in the Constitution of South Africa. The LRC has litigated many of South Africa's landmark human rights cases since its establishment, including major cases resisting apartheid injustices and cases under the new Constitution after 1994. These include
S v Makwanyane
' (abolishing the death penalty), '' Government of the Republic of South Africa v Grootboom'' (establishing the justiciability of socio-economic rights), the ''

Treatment Action Campaign The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is a South African HIV/AIDS activist organisation which was co-founded by the HIV-positive activist Zackie Achmat in 1998. TAC is rooted in the experiences, direct action tactics and anti-apartheid backgrou ...

'' case (compelling government to provide anti-retroviral drugs to prevent transmission of HIV at childbirth) and the silicosis class action (South Africa's largest class action, against the major players in the gold mining industry, culminating in a multi-billion Ran
settlement
to compensate black mineworkers). The LRC has produced more judges than any other law firm or public interest law centre, all appointed after 1994. They include the first head of the newly created Constitutional Court, Arthur Chaskalson, and the former President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Lex Mpati, as well as many others.

Notable alumni

George Bizos George Bizos ( el, Γιώργος Μπίζος; 14 November 19279 September 2020) was a Greek-South African human rights lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in South Africa. He was noted for representing Nelson Mandela during the Rivonia T ...

, human rights advocate
Jason Brickhill
human rights advocate and academic * Arthur Chaskalson, former Chief Justice and

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

judge *

John Hlophe Yahya John Mandlakayise Hlophe (born 1 January 1959 in Stanger, KwaZulu-Natal) is Judge President of the Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa. Background and career Born in Stanger, Natal, he was educated at the University ...

, Judge President of the

Western Cape Division The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (previously named the Cape Provincial Division and the Western Cape High Court, and commonly known as the Cape High Court) is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over th ...

of the High Court *

, human rights advocate and wife of leading anti-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

lawyer

Sydney Kentridge Sir Sydney Woolf Kentridge (born 5 November 1922) is a South African-born lawyer, judge and member of the Bar of England and Wales. He practised law in South Africa and the United Kingdom from the 1940s until his retirement in 2013. In South Af ...

Janet Love
former National Director of the LRC, former Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission, Commissioner of the Independent Electoral Commission and former member of uMkhonto weSizwe, armed wing of the ANC *

Bongani Christopher Majola Bongani Christopher Majola is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, an academic, human rights scholar, and the previous Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He currentl ...

, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda * Dunstan Mlambo, Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court *

Lex Mpati Lex Mpati SC (born 5 September 1949) is a South African judge, Chancellor of Rhodes University, and former President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa. Early life and education Mpati has deep roots in Grahamstown and the province a ...

, former President of the Supreme Court of Appeal *

Mahomed Navsa Mahomed Solomon Navsa (born 24 May 1957) is a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa and its Acting Deputy President in 2015."Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal"SCA website Early life Navsa was born in 1957 in Edenvale, Gauteng ...

, judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal *

Sandile Ngcobo Sandile Ngcobo (born 1 March 1953) is former justice in the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He served as Chief Justice from 2009 to 2011. In 2017, the Southern African Public Law journal published a special issue in volume 32 of the jou ...

, Chief Justice and Constitutional Court judge * Chris Nicholson, judge in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Division of the High Court *

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi Tembeka Nicholas Ngcukaitobi (25 December 1976) is a South African lawyer, public speaker, author and political activist. He is a member of the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC). Ngcukaitobi has authored the book ''The Land Is Ours: S ...

, human rights advocate and author *

Thandi Orleyn Noluthando Dorian Bahedile Orleyn, commonly known as Thandi Orleyn, (born 1956) is a South African lawyer and business executive who has been active mainly in the financial sector. She is a co-founder and executive director of Peotona Group Hold ...

, corporate executive, former head of Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration (CCMA), Chair of Legal Resources Trust

References

External links

* Law firms of South Africa Organizations established in 1979 {{org-stub