Chairperson and Senior Advisor – JHB.
Michael Power.
Michael Power Chairperson and Senior Advisor
Michael is the Chairperson and a Senior Advisor at ALT Advisory, which he co-founded. He also serves as the Chairperson of the ALT Impact Group and Foundation and Power Law Africa, a leading public interest law firm that works in association with ALT Advisory.
Alongside his focus on ethical leadership, good governance, and supporting our management team, Michael continues to provide legal and advisory services to select clients, including strategic and test case litigation, the development of legal instruments and public policy, law reform, negotiations, strategic development, and organisational structuring.
His work has included multiple high-profile cases, research and policy briefs, negotiations, and publications relating to media freedom and the sustainability of journalism, privacy and surveillance, platform accountability and AI, access to information, the rule of law, safeguarding civic space, and public participation in South Africa, and across the African continent.
He is a practising Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and a sessional lecturer at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria.
— Focus areas.
— Notable projects.
- Preparing global pre-publication review guidelines for journalists for the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
- Advising the Association of Independent Publishers on the establishment of the ZAR114m Digital News Transformation Fund.
- Supporting the South African National Editors’ Forum with a series of written and oral submissions to the Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry initiated by South Africa’s Competition Commission.
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Developing a Diaspora Engagement Framework for the Economic, Social & Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union.
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Co-authoring a report for the International Network of Civil Liberties Organisations titled “Lethal in Disguise 2: How Crowd-Control Weapons Impact Health and Human Rights”.
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Providing technical research support to the Department of Social Affairs of the African Union Commission in the preparation of draft guidelines on the African Union Free Movement Protocol.
Our people.
—Meet the team that drives us.
Michael’s profile.
— Learn more about Michael.
Michael is the Chairperson and a Senior Advisor at ALT Advisory, which he co-founded. He works closely with our management team to ensure the fulfilment of our strategic vision.
Alongside his focus on ethical leadership and good governance, Michael continues to provide legal and advisory services to select clients, including strategic and test case litigation, the development of legal instruments and public policy, law reform, negotiations, strategic development, and organisational structuring.
His work has included multiple high-profile cases, research and policy briefs, negotiations, and publications relating to media freedom and the sustainability of journalism, privacy and surveillance, platform accountability and AI, access to information, the rule of law, safeguarding civic space, and public participation in South Africa, and across the African continent.
He regularly advises activists, journalists, publishers, social enterprises, civil society organisations, responsible businesses, and international and multilateral institutions, which include various agencies of the United Nations and organs of the African Union.
Michael is a practising Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, and he holds B.A., LL.B. (with Distinction), and LL.M. in Public International Law (with Distinction) degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Certificate in International Trade Regulation from the University of Bern, and an Executive M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. He lectures media law and negotiations at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria.
Before forming ALT Advisory, Michael practised constitutional and international law at the Legal Resources Centre, and he clerked at the Constitutional Court of South Africa for Justices Bess Nkabinde and Steven Majiedt.
Michael also serves as the Chairperson of the ALT Impact Group and Foundation and Power Law Africa, a leading public interest law firm which works in association with ALT Advisory.
