The Definitive Guide For Attorneys In South Africa
The Definitive Guide For Attorneys In South Africa
Catherine Warburton established Warburton Attorneys in the year 2000 and the firm celebrates its 26th year of operation this year. Catherine has acted as the Managing Partner since inception. (See www.warburtons.co.za.) Catherine has more than thirty years of practical experience in the field of sustainability law in South Africa.
Catherine’s experience has mainly been developed across a broad spectrum of infrastructure development and mining projects. She has also assisted NGO groups and government with legal advice and has provided input into governmental regulatory development in South Africa. Catherine was involved in the environmental legal aspects of the Gautrain Project as specialist advisor from 2002 to 2016 and has advised on a number of development projects and climate and energy related projects.
Whilst working as in-house Environmental Legal Counsel for Anglo American she completed a two-and-a-half-year international sustainable development training program in 2001 entitled LEAD i.e. Leadership for the Environment and Development. In 2012 Catherine completed a Sustainability Reporting Course, certified by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In 2013 she completed the GRI Certified Course based on the G4 reporting guidelines. Catherine completed her dissertation for her Master of Laws at Wits University in 2014 with distinction. The title of her dissertation was, “Evaluating South African EIA processes in the context of the Gautrain Project”. Catherine completed a course with the Institute of Directors on Exceptional Women on Boards in 2025 and was appointed as a non-executive director of SANParks in October 2025 for a three-year term.
Catherine has developed specific expertise in the area of climate change. She has attended UNFCCC meetings as a South African business representative and has worked on a number of greenhouse gas mitigation projects, including CDM projects, carbon capture and storage research and on greenhouse gas reporting. Catherine is part of a team that developed and reviewed South Africa’s first draft set of Carbon Budget and Mitigation Plan Regulations. Her experience includes legal advice on Carbon Offset projects and she tracks world-wide climate change litigation and developments in the carbon market. This work also serves to compliment her air quality and EIA related work in South Africa.
She has worked on countless renewable energy projects in due diligence investigations, EIAs, compliance audits and providing legal opinions. Catherine has presented papers and training courses on a wide range of sustainability legal issues, including on climate change. She provides strategic legal advice at the Board level and recently conducted training on lender liability in environmental law for a large Development Finance Institution. Catherine has worked on a number of mine closure projects and is acting in a large corporate criminal environmental prosecution, which is the first of its kind in South Africa.
From 2013 – 2026 Catherine has been listed as one of the Best Environmental Lawyers in SA by Best Lawyers SA. She was ranked in the Chambers & Partners Guide (Environmental) on Band One from 2015 to 2026 and in Who’s Who Legal (Environmental) from 2015 to 2026. The Chambers Guide reported that she possesses a wealth of knowledge covering all manner of environmental advisory, compliance and contentious issues. Clients are quick to praise her as “extremely approachable while simultaneously being an expert in environmental law with vast amounts of experience” and describe her as “methodical, meticulous, experienced and efficient“. The Business Today Legal Awards listed Catherine as one of South Africa’s Top 10 Influential Environmental lawyers in 2023.
Attorney Profile last updated: 3 September 2026