The Department of Mercantile Law is the largest department in the Faculty of Law and has 22 full-time lecturers.  The Department has a proud tradition in excellent teaching and research. Fifteen of its staff members hold LLD degrees and six members are currently enrolled and/or in the process of finalising their doctorate degrees.  Eight members of staff are NRF-rated researchers:  Profs Corlia van Heerden and Hermie Coetzee (C1), Profs Stefan van Eck, Stefan Renke, Jacolien Barnard, Monray Marsellus Botha and Dr Reghard Brits (C2) and Prof Femida Cassim (Y2).  Many staff members are recognised, both nationally and internationally, as excellent researchers and teachers.  Some of our members of staff serve on legislative bodies and editorial boards and many are recognised as specialists in their respective fields.

As part of the Department's vision to prepare well-rounded individuals who are able to play an active role in the commercial world, the Department offers a wide range of subjects and courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The Department is unique in that it is the only department in the Faculty that not only provides tuition to law students, but also to students from various other Faculties, such as the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and the Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Information Technology.

The Department is justifiably proud of its LLM courses. A significant number of master's students enrol for programmes such as Mercantile Law, Corporate Law, Labour Law and Tax Law. The Department also prides itself of the fact that it has the capacity to accommodate LLD students in most of the specialist areas within the field of Mercantile Law. The Department furthermore strives to promote life-long learning by offering a number of short courses.  The subject areas of these courses include the National Credit Act, Competition Law, Disciplinary Enquiries at the Workplace, Labour Law, Insolvency Law, Insurance Law, Banking Law and Transnational Business Law, to mention a few.