Advocate Lilla Crouse is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Public Law.

Lilla is an admitted advocate. She completed her pupillage in 1992 and was a member of the Port Elizabeth Society of Advocates until 2004. Whilst at the Bar she was also a member of the Bar Council. She is currently employed with Legal Aid South Africa  as a senior litigator for the Eastern Cape. She regularly appears in the High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.  Her core function is public interest litigation and litigation concentrating on issues that impact on the constitutional rights of vulnerable persons and children. In the matter of Sarrahwitz v Hermanus Maritz N.O. 2015 (4) SA 491 (CC), in which Lilla acted for the applicant, the common law pertaining to the right of a buyer who paid for property that fell into an insolvent estate was changed.  During October 2017 to February 2018 she was involved in the Life Isidimeni arbitration hearing before Justice Moseneke where constitutional damages were awarded for Mental Health Care Users and their families.

 

She has held acting appointments as a Judge of the High Court in the Eastern Cape and in Gauteng since 2007. One of her judgments, Burchell v Anglin 2010 (3) SA 48 (ECG), on private international law and the law of defamation, was referred to with approval in an SCA judgment and is also discussed in a major textbook and the faculty's in-house journal, Obiter.

Lilla has a passion for mentoring and training young lawyers, and regularly presents training on trial skills and other legal issues. She is involved on an ongoing basis in work that empowers children, women, persons addicted to drugs, and the poor generally. Lilla is committed to the rule of law and regards it as the cornerstone of our democracy which must be protected above all.

Lilla has been married to Carl for over 30 years. They have two adult children.