Carlo Messina

About Messina Incorporated

Messina Incorporated is a firm conducting a specialised commercial legal practice from our offices situated at 269 Oxford Road, Illovo, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Our Philosophy – Leadership through Service

Drawing from our doctrine of “Leadership through Service”, we aim to lead the commercial law field by providing close personal attention, accompanied by specialised knowledge, balanced with agreeable rates.

We achieve the best commercial result for our clients. That is our ethos.

Areas of Practice

Messina Incorporated has grown its staff and skills base in order to offer specialised services in the areas of law which we practise. Our current areas of expertise are as follows:

Commercial – drafting of all types of commercial agreements, corporate restructuring, advising on compliance and governance, and mergers and acquisitions;

Competition Law (antitrust) – merger and acquisition filings, competition issues, and advisory opinions;

Leases and rental recovery;

Insolvency – liquidation applications, interrogations, and business rescue;

Commercial High Court litigation, corporate recoveries, and arbitrations;

International law, including assisting with foreign investment in South Africa;

Company secretarial

Intellectual Property – trademark registration and disputes;

Trusts and notarial bonds;

Mining law;

Notarial certification of documents and trade and investment in Africa; and

Messina Incorporated is proud to have as its clients some of South Africa’s largest corporate entities.

Commercial drafting, corporate restructurings and providing advisory opinions on contracts is one of our speciality areas, and we have had extensive experience with all commercial agreements as well as further experience in mergers and acquisitions. We pride ourselves on our fast turnaround time with agreements, and painstakingly ensure that the same is completely error-free, and correctly record the intention of the parties.

We have actively engaged in corporate recovery work and opposed litigation associated therewith. We always seek the best commercial result for our clients in this regard, and we generally draft our own pleadings and try to limit counsel’s involvement to court appearances. Naturally, we comply with the client’s requirements.

We have also provided numerous opinions on both agreements, and legislation to our large corporate clients, as well as parastatal clients, ensuring a proper and thorough interpretation of such agreements and legislation and conveying same to those clients.

Some of our Clients

We have grown, from a small little firm into a specialist commercial practice, and we have noticed that there is a huge gap for small firms, who can do big work. We believe we fit into that category. Our clients range from multinationals, government, parastatals, local corporate and family owned businesses.

We place a huge emphasis on reporting back to clients and keeping them updated on EVERY STEP of the legal matter. This is an easy thing to do, actually, but most attorneys get it wrong. We do not.

Simply put, we get the job done.

Messina Incorporated is an active member of the Corporate Lawyers Association, the South African Institute of Directors, Italian-South African Chamber of Trade and Industries, and the American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa.

Our People

The Messina Incorporated team comprises of the following:

Carlo Messina (Managing Director – BCom LLB)
Manuela Hinz (Director – BCom LLB)
Lopang Peacock (Director – LLB)
Fatima Leitao
Sunitha Singh
Marcel Weygertze (Senior Associate – BA LLB LLM);
Nicole Martin (Junior Associate – BCom LLB)
Jessica Lillie (BSocSci LLB)
Nyameko Tshuku (Candidate Attorney – LLB)
John Modukanele (Candidate Attorney – LLB)
Tristan McKenzie (Candidate Attorney – LLB)
Kelly Large
Lucrecia Baartman
Tumelo Mokgoje

Who all combine effectively to deliver the best legal service, and ensure that clients are properly and timeously updated in all matters, and constantly undergo training and evaluation, both internally and externally, to ensure that the service is always at the highest level, and to ensure that a proper transfer of skills is conducted.

BEE Rating and Empowerment

Messina Incorporated is a 100% recognised Level Two contributor.