Megan Claassens

Full Profile

Megan has litigated and advised extensively on commercial and insurance matters including directors and officer’s liability, cyber, professional indemnity, commercial crime and investigations, fidelity, logistics, personal injury, business rescue and liquidations.  She also deals with complex and large loss policy coverage advice.

In addition, Megan has been involved in various high profile and large investigations involving directors' duties, bribery and corruption, competition, fidelity, commercial crime and has a keen interest in advising clients on risk related aspects in respect of their corporate structures, cyber and business compliance and regulations. 

Megan is a part of cyber response team for insurers and commercial clients.

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
• Experience in eDiscovery and managing teams in large investigations, document and general data reviews
• Involved in numerous forensic investigations into multinational and state-owned enterprises comprising business ethics, anti-corruption and bribery