Across the country and the globe TuksLaw alumni are going from strength to strength - one of them is TuksLaw alumnus Michael Dafel who is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar.  His research focuses on the extent to which private individuals and entities are burdened by constitutional rights in South Africa, and whether doing so can assist in creating a more equitable society.  Michael completed his LLB with distinction at the University of Pretoria in 2009. 

Michael's academic success and broader contribution to the Faculty of Law and the University of Pretoria student community during his undergraduate studies led him to secure a Hauser Global Law Scholarship and with the support of a grant by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust to complete an LLM at New York University. 

He has also worked on many human rights projects.  He has for instance clerked at the Constitutional Court of South Africa for Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, worked on litigation before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and provided research assistance to members of constitutional drafting assemblies in the Middle East following the 2010/11 Arab Spring. 

Michael has published his work in some of South Africa’s most prestigious law journals, and he currently serves as a Managing Editor for the Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law.