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Advocate Ashley Henri Kantor SC

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  • Advocate Ashley Henri Kantor SC
Adv A H Kantor SC_7086

Capacity: Advocate
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Date of Birth: August 1969
Qualifications: Bachelor of Business Science Honours (1991) LLB (1993) LLM (1996) (UCT), LLM (University of Cambridge) (1996)

Key Judgments & Appearances:

Candidate Biography | Updated March 2026:

Advocate Ashley Henri Kantor is a practising Senior Counsel and Member of the Cape Bar.

Adv Kantor SC holds a Bachelor of Business Science (Honours), an LLB, and an LLM from the University of Cape Town, in addition to an LLM from the University of Cambridge. Kantor commenced his professional career as a candidate attorney at Sonnenberg Hoffmann & Galombik and was admitted as an attorney in 1995. He was admitted as an advocate and joined the Cape Bar in 1996, where he has practised for nearly thirty years. He was conferred Senior Counsel status in 2018. Throughout his career, Kantor has maintained a busy litigation practice focusing on commercial, contractual, insurance, insolvency, and public law. He has also served as a part-time lecturer at the University of Cape Town in the late 1990’s.

One of the matters that came through his busy litigation practice, Adv Kantor was when he appeared for the appellant in Cuducap (Pty) Ltd v De Bruyn at the Supreme Court of Appeal. In this case, the Court considered a joinder of necessity in setting aside a property buy-back scheme. The Court ultimately remitted the matter back to the High Court based on the fact that the mortgagee, Standard Bank Ltd, was not properly joined as a party to the lower court’s proceedings and, as such could not have a direct and substantial interest in the litigation.

In Madelung and Another v Master of the High Court, Cape Town and Others, Adv Kantor appeared as counsel for the applicants, brothers who challenged the executor of an interim estate account based on requirements of the Administration of Estates Act. Ultimately, the Western Cape High Court determined that both the executor and the applicants were required to pay for the main application and the counter-application, respectively.

Adv Kantor has also served several acting stints in the Western Cape Division between May 2024 and December 2025, and delivered judgments on civil matters, motion court, urgent court, civil appeals, criminal appeals, judicial reviews, and mental health reviews. As Acting Judge in Walser Wine Projects (Pty) Ltd v Wine Machinery Group (Ptd) (Ltd), Kantor considered whether to grant the plaintiff’s, a wine manufacturer’s, application for leave to appeal, based on his analysis of whether the appeal would have a reasonable prospect of success. Adv Kantor determined that the plaintiff did not have a reasonable prospect of success, based on the testimony and expert evidence provided in the prior judgment, and rejected the application for appeal.

In Grenco Projects and Construction CC v Hermanus Esplanade Dev Co (Pty) Ltd, Kantor judged a legal matter related to the role of payment certificates issued during the liquidation proceedings of a construction company. The applicant in this case asserted that the respondent owed them millions of dollars based on these payment certificates. Kantor found that the respondent could not pay the debt and that it would not be just or equitable to issue them a wide-up order.

Since 2014, Adv Kantor has served as a Small Claims Court Commissioner in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court. Previously, Advocate Kantor served as Chairperson of the Governing Body of SACS (2021–2024) and as a Member of the Cape Bar Pro Bono Disciplinary Committee (2018–2019).

Outside of the law, Adv Kantor was previously a commercial pilot and instructor, as well as a water polo player on the South African National Team, which he played with in the 1994 world championships.

April 2026 JSC Interview

After deliberations, the Judicial Service Commission has decided not to recommend Adv Ashley Henri Kantor SC for appointment to the Western Cape High Court.