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

Key Judgments and Appearances:

Candidate Biography | Updated August 2026:

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

Adv Kantor SC has practised as an advocate for about three decades and has developed a court litigation practice focused on commercial, contractual, insurance, insolvency, property, company, and public law.

Kantor obtained a Bachelor of Business Science (Honours) degree, an LLB and an LLM from the University of Cape Town, as well as a second LLM from the University of Cambridge. He began 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, joined the Cape Bar in August 1996, and has practised law for about thirty years. In 2018, he was appointed Senior Counsel.

His career has combined litigation with academic, professional and community responsibilities. He served as a part-time lecturer at the University of Cape Town during the late 1990s. Since 2014, he has also served as a commissioner of the Small Claims Court at the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court. He served as Chairperson of the School Governing Body of South African College High School (SACS) and served on the Cape Bar Pro Bono Disciplinary Committee from 2018 to 2019.

Kantor’s professional practice has given him substantial exposure to commercial litigation. His work has included contractual disputes, insurance, insolvency, business rescue, planning law and administrative law.

He has used his legal career to advance the protection of previously disadvantaged groups, including women and people of colour. He has also served as an Acting Judge, with five reported judgments, and as a Small Claims Court Commissioner for 12 years. Kantor has served approximately five terms as an acting judge in the Western Cape Division between May 2024 and August 2026. During those appointments, he dealt with civil and motion proceedings, urgent applications, civil and criminal appeals, judicial reviews and mental health reviews.

One of the notable matters Kantor presided over was Walser Wine Projects (Pty) Ltd v Wine Machinery Group (Pty) Ltd. The dispute involved a wine manufacturer seeking leave to appeal. Kantor considered whether the proposed appeal had a reasonable prospect of success and concluded that it did not, having regard to the evidence and expert testimony considered in the original judgment. Kantor consequently refused the application for leave to appeal.

In Moodley v Public Service Commission, Kantor recognised the court’s inherent jurisdiction (power) to prevent abuse of process, including circumstances where liquidation proceedings are used principally to enforce a genuinely disputed debt.

In Grenco Projects and Construction CC v Hermanus Esplanade Dev Co (Pty) Ltd, Kantor dealt with an application for the liquidation of a construction company. The applicant relied on payment certificates and alleged that a substantial debt was owed. Kantor concluded that the requirements for a winding-up order had not been established and that it would not be just and equitable to grant the relief sought.

Kantor has also appeared in the Supreme Court of Appeal. In Cuducap (Pty) Ltd v De Bruyn, he represented the appellant in litigation concerning a property buy-back scheme. The SCA considered the requirement that a party with a direct and substantial interest in the proceedings be joined. Standard Bank had not been properly joined in the High Court proceedings, and the matter was remitted for further consideration.

His recent judicial work has also included criminal matters. In March 2026, Kantor sat as an Acting Judge with Judge Fortuin in an appeal involving the conviction and sentence of a man convicted of raping a nine-year-old child. They dismissed the appeal and upheld the conviction and life sentence, finding significant discrepancies in the appellant’s version and describing the complainant’s evidence as detailed and cogent.

Outside his legal career, Kantor has a distinctive background. He was previously a commercial pilot and flight instructor and represented South Africa in water polo at 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.