Lee Astfalck

Full Profile

Lee has extensive experience in respect of financial lines including professional negligence, directors and officers liability, commercial crime, cyber claims, technology and IP disputes and general commercial and corporate litigation.

He provides both policy coverage and defence advice to insurers with particular emphasis on complex claims and he regularly acts for directors, companies and professionals. He has presented extensively on director’s duties and liabilities and risk management advice to directors. He has also been involved in a number of cyber claims and has provided both incident response and coverage advice.

Lee was admitted as an attorney in 1999 and as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2003. He spent several years working in the London insurance market for a leading international insurer providing complex claims advice and corporate advice.

Lee has been ranked in The Best Lawyers in South Africa for litigation and has been ranked in Chambers Global since 2019 for insurance where sources have stated that: "He is able to grasp and deal with technical matters, get to the heart of the issue and guide us to the ultimate resolution. We rely on Lee in these difficult scenarios." "He is an exceptional technical lawyer and a balanced and calm individual in confrontational situations."

Experience

• Successfully defended arbitration proceedings against an international insurer and various co-insurers in respect of a professional liability and technology policy coverage dispute pertaining to a leading telecommunications company
• Defending a damages claim in excess of R100million against the former chief executive officer of a construction company relating to the alleged breach of duty in the management and operation of a mine
• Defending a director of a leading tertiary institution in respect of an application to have the director declared delinquent in terms of the Companies Act 2008 for alleged breach of procurement policies and delegation of authority
• Defending the directors of a major clothing and retail company in respect of claims involving alleged reckless trading and breaches of the Companies Act 2008
• Acting for and defending the directors of a state owned company in respect of allegations of breach of duty arising from an application by a creditor to have the company placed under business rescue proceedings
• Acting as breach advisor in respect of ransomware cyber-attacks on a leading transport and logistics company and a leading financial services company
• Advising an international insurer on policy coverage in respect of a cyber-attack and data breach regarding a third party payment administrator
• Providing policy coverage and legal liability advice to insurers on a number of complex fraud and fidelity guarantee matters
• Successfully defended a commercial property insurance broker against allegations of professional negligence relating to the hijacking of an inner city building and subsequent policy coverage disputes with the property insurer and SASRIA