Hickley Hamman

Full Profile

Hickley is a Legal Director based in the Johannesburg office. His practice focuses on insurance, aviation and commercial dispute resolution, with particular experience in Aviation, Construction and Engineering, and Financial Lines. He regularly advises insurers, reinsurers, insureds and other commercial clients on complex coverage and liability disputes, including matters involving multiple jurisdictions and cross-border issues across Africa.

Hickley has a particular interest in the aviation sector. His experience includes aviation insurance and liability matters, as well as commercial disputes involving airlines and aviation service providers. He also advises on emerging issues affecting the sector, including the developing regulatory and liability landscape for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and drones. His aviation practice has an increasingly regional focus, particularly in Southern Africa and across the wider African market.

His dispute resolution experience includes proceedings in the lower courts, High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal, as well as arbitration and mediation. He has also represented clients before regulatory bodies and advised on criminal and regulatory matters arising from professional services and commercial activities.

Hickley has broader corporate and commercial experience, including contractual drafting and negotiation, corporate governance and general commercial advice. He has acted for clients across a range of sectors, including healthcare, logistics and the public sector, and regularly advises on disputes arising from complex commercial relationships.

Hickley regularly presents on insurance, aviation and commercial dispute resolution, and has participated in industry discussions on the regulation and operation of UAS and drones in Africa.

Experience

• Advising Insurers on multiple disputes arising from a major aviation loss in South Sudan, which resulted in multiple casualties.
• Representing the national carrier of an African country in a large commercial arbitration concerning non-payment of services rendered and good delivered.
• Advising an insurer on a cross border coverage dispute relating to losses sustained at a construction site in Mozambique.
• Advising local and foreign reinsurers on the management of class action litigation relating to products liability.
• Advising UK-based reinsurers on coverage and liability issues arising from a helicopter crash in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Advising a financial consultancy on the defence of a claim for damages flowing from the alleged failure to monitor a third party’s performance.
• Successfully defending a claim based on an alleged lack of informed consent against a general surgeon through the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal.
• Advising aviation and engineering underwriters on the wording of policies of insurance.