Service & Scholarship

A career built on more than the brief.

The practice of advocacy carries obligations that extend beyond any individual instruction. Through more than twenty years at the Johannesburg Bar — and through the Mahon Foundation, the JSA's committees, and the chambers he has shared with juniors he has helped build into practitioners — Don Mahon SC has pursued those obligations with the same rigour and commitment he brings to the most demanding matters in his practice. He is now the Chairperson of the Johannesburg Society of Advocates. The role is both a recognition of that record and a continuation of it.

Community Impact

  • The 39 Essex Exchange Programme

    Co-created and implemented, together with Lane SC and Cochrane SC, a structured exchange programme enabling junior members of the Maisels Group to spend time at the 39 Essex Barristers' Set in London. Participants are exposed to British solicitors, the Bar of England and Wales and the British clerking system, attend British courts, and actively participate in pending matters.

    The programme was designed with three specific objectives: to provide junior advocates with an international professional profile that increases their marketability; to expose them to how advocates in a comparable jurisdiction develop and sustain their practices; and to build lasting professional relationships between the Johannesburg Bar and the 39 Essex Set. The cost of attendance is subsidised by senior members of the Maisels Group.

  • SALA House Internet Access Initiative

    Negotiated a sponsorship of internet facilities and connectivity for the JSA's Bar Council transformation SALA House Initiative in 2016/2017, enabling new members of the Bar — particularly those without established chambers infrastructure — to access online legal resources free of charge. A practical contribution to lowering the practical barriers to entry for junior advocates from disadvantaged backgrounds.

  • The Mahon Foundation

    The Mahon Foundation is a registered charitable trust and Public Benefit Organisation founded in 2013, with the purpose of providing educational access, academic support and scholarship funding to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a particular focus on legal education and transformation of the profession.

    Since 2015, the Foundation has distributed in excess of R6.2 million to beneficiaries. In 2020 and 2021 alone, the Foundation provided LLM bursaries totalling over R1.35 million to fifteen previously disadvantaged students studying through the University of the North West and the University of Johannesburg. Over 80 percent of the Foundation's beneficiaries are black individuals. Other beneficiaries include schools and orphanages.

    The Foundation's work extends well beyond formal bursaries. It has contributed in excess of R200 000 to the JSA Transformation Fund and the JSA Pupillage Bursary Fund — contributions acknowledged by five successive Chairpersons of the Bar Council. It has funded secondary school tuition, technical education, school equipment for low-income communities, and direct financial assistance to junior advocates at the JSA who have had difficulty meeting their group fees. It has created a dedicated junior brief fund, contributing over R400 000 to facilitate the briefing of junior black and female advocates.

    The Foundation's income has been derived entirely from donations solicited personally by Don Mahon SC. It is not a passive vehicle — it is an active institutional expression of his commitment to the transformation of the legal profession and of South African society.

The Record

“Basic compassion is a necessary attribute, not only of someone who considers him or herself deserving of Silk, but of any decent human being.”

Pro Bono

  • Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development v Prince — Constitutional Court

    Appeared as lead counsel, without fee, in the matter that reached the Constitutional Court as a challenge to the constitutional validity of legislation criminalising the private possession and use of cannabis by adults. The litigation spanned both the High Court and the Constitutional Court. The Court unanimously upheld the challenge, striking down the impugned provisions as an unreasonable infringement of the right to privacy. The judgment is the leading authority on the boundaries of State power in the private sphere and one of the most significant constitutional decisions of the post-2010 era.

  • Tsambo v Sengadi — Supreme Court of Appeal

    Appeared without fee for the family of the late Jabulani Tsambo (HHP) in urgent High Court proceedings and the subsequent appeal before the Supreme Court of Appeal, in a matter concerning the validity of a customary law marriage and the rights arising from it. The matter raised foundational questions about the evolution of customary law and the requirements of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998. Led junior counsel in both the High Court and the SCA.

  • Nedbank Limited v Collatz — Gauteng High Court

    Appeared without fee in a civil trial concerning the remedies available to a spouse married in community of property where the deceased partner had, without her knowledge or consent, procured the disbursement of loan funds into an account in her name in contravention of section 15 of the Matrimonial Property Act 1984. The matter raised important questions about the protection of spousal rights in community of property marriages and the obligations of lending institutions.

Affiliations

  • 39 Essex Barristers — London

    Co-founder, Exchange Programme

  • Mail & Guardian

    200 Young South Africans — 2013

  • Young African Leaders Initiative — US Embassy, Pretoria

    Invited Participant — Washington Fellowship (2013)

Public Appointments

  • Counsel — Commission of Enquiry into Allegations of State Capture

    Commission of Enquiry into Allegations of State Capture (Zondo Commission)

  • Arbitrator and Adjudicator — Commercial and Construction Disputes

    Various — AFSA, Private Arbitrations