Prof Theo Broodryk

Professor and Clinic Head

Professor Theo Broodryk is a Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University. He currently serves as the Acting Vice Dean: Research and Internationalisation and is the Head of the Stellenbosch University Law Clinic. He holds BA, LLB, and LLD degrees from Stellenbosch University and is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

Professor Broodryk is a Y1 NRF-rated researcher and the author of several notable publications, including Eckard’s Principles of Civil Procedure in the Magistrates’ Court and Fundamental Principles of Civil Procedure. His scholarly work has contributed to shaping the landscape of collective litigation in South Africa, with his research cited by practitioners and courts in complex representative actions.

He is a Beaufort (Colenso) Fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge, and has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School. He has received numerous funding awards, including the MJ & HB Thom research funding award and the NRF Knowledge Interchange and Collaboration funding award.

His research contributions have been institutionally recognised, including as one of Stellenbosch University’s leading contributors to Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET)-accredited scientific publications. In 2020, he was awarded the prestigious Georg Forster Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. He is a recipient of the Rector’s Award for Outstanding Work Performance and, in 2024, was awarded the University’s prestigious Chancellor’s Award.

He is a member of the International Association of Procedural Law and, since 2022, has served as a member of the South African Rules Board for Courts of Law. In this capacity, he led the drafting of the landmark Uniform Rule 11A for the certification of class actions in the High Court, which will be implemented imminently and represents a significant advancement in South Africa’s collective litigation framework.

Publications

Accredited law journals

• T Broodryk “‘Class action certification and constitutional claims: the South African case” (2020) Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law (accepted for publication).
• T Broodryk “Mediation as a tool to manage and resolve class actions” (2020) Stell LR (accepted for publication).
• T Broodryk “An empirical analysis of class actions in South Africa” (2020) Law, Democracy and Development 54-85.
• T Broodryk & W de Vos “Fundamental procedural rights of civil litigants in Australia and South Africa: is there cause for concern?” (part 2) (2019) 4 TSAR 627-639.
• T Broodryk & W de Vos “Fundamental procedural rights of civil litigants in Australia and South Africa: is there cause for concern?” (part 1) (2019) TSAR 425-449.
• T Broodryk “The South African Class Action Mechanism: Comparing the Opt-out regime to the Opt-in regime” 22 (2019) PER.
• T Broodryk “The South African Class Action vs Group Action as an Appropriate Procedural Device” (2019) Stell LR 6-32.
• T Broodryk & W de Vos “Managerial judging and alternative dispute resolution in Australia: an example for South Africa to emulate?” part 2 (2018) TSAR 18-35.
• T Broodryk “Individual issues and the class action mechanism: Determining damages in mass personal injury class actions” (2017) SALJ 4 821-846.
• T Broodryk & W de Vos “Managerial judging and alternative dispute resolution in Australia: an example for South Africa to emulate?” part 1 (2017) TSAR 4 683-703.
• T Broodryk “Strategic Considerations in Global Litigation: Comparing Judicial Case Management Approaches in South Africa with the United States” (2017) Stell LR 2 379-401.
• T Broodryk “Giving notice to members of opt-out class actions” (2017) TSAR 3 498-510.
• T Broodryk & C Golombick “Teaching Legal Writing Skills in the South African LLB Curriculum: The Role of the Writing Consultant” (2016) 3 Stell LR 535-553.
• T Broodryk & M Buitendag “Writing-intensive courses across the law curriculum: developing law students‟ critical thinking and writing skills – a post-evaluation assessment” 2015 36(3) Obiter 615-630.
• T Broodryk “The Erosion of the Principle of Orality in South African Civil Procedure: Fact or Fiction?” Speculum Juris (2014) 28 181-201.
• T Broodryk “Writing-intensive courses across the law curriculum: developing law students’ critical thinking and writing skills” (2014) Obiter 34 453-466.
• T Broodryk “Legal representation at the CCMA: Law Society of the Northern Provinces v Minister of Labour 2013 (1) BLLR 105 (GNP) and CCMA v Law Society, Northern Provinces 2013 (11) BLLR 1057 (SCA)” (2014) Obiter 35 393.

Chapters in books

• T Broodryk “Class Actions in South Africa: a need for certainty” in B Fitzpatrick and R Thomas  (eds) Cambridge International Handbook of Class Actions (2020, forthcoming).
• T Broodryk “A developing mediation minnow: the South African perspective” in C Esplugues & L Marquis (eds) New Developments in Civil and Commercial Mediation: Global Comparative Perspectives Springer International Publishing (2015) 667-692.

Books

• T Broodryk Eckard’s Principles of Civil Procedure in the Magistrates’ Courts 6th ed (2019), Juta & Co (Pty) Ltd.

Others

• T Broodryk Country Overview: South Africa, Global Class Actions Exchange (A collaboration between Stanford Law School, the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, and Tilburg University) 2020.
• T Broodryk Class Action Litigation in South Africa, Max du Plessis, Johan Oxenham, Isabel Goodman, Luke Kelly and Sarah Pudifin-Jones (Eds.) TSAR (2018) 223-225 (Book review).
• T Broodryk South African report titled “Class Actions in Competition Law” (a collaboration between Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), November 2017.
• T Broodryk “Street Law: Practical Law for South Africans 3 ed by D McQuid-Mason” (2016) 27(1) Stell LR 203 (Book review).