LLM Graduate Opts for Career in Commercial Banking

BY: .

LLM degree graduate Ms Meleshni Reddy has chosen a career in the boardroom rather than in the courtroom.

Reddy is currently employed by Standard Bank in its Legal Graduate Programme where she works in the fiduciary space specialising in wills, trusts and estates.

Her master’s thesis, which explored the recently promulgated Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) in relation to spam was titled: “An analysis of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 in the context of unsolicited electronic communications”.

She was supervised by Mr Lee Swales of the UKZN School of Law.

Reddy says the abuse of personal information by corporates was the motivation for her thesis. ‘Consumer rights is an area that I feel requires legislative development and POPI serves as a substantial advancement being South Africa’s first data protection statute,’ she said.

She said POPI served to safeguard and protect the constitutional right to privacy by providing protection against the abuse of personal information. ‘This new data protection Act marks a significant shift within South African law particularly in the context of spam, prohibiting any form of spam being sent without a consumer’s consent.’

In the near future, Reddy sees herself expanding her knowledge of business law through doctoral studies focusing on consumer rights and delving deeper into the area of data protection law in South Africa.

Hazel Langa