Magda Cloete joined VDH in 2016, expecting a temporary placement while awaitingher admission as an attorney. Instead, she discovered an area of law that wouldbecome her professional passion. What began as a brief stop between career stagesdeveloped into a lasting commitment to debt review litigation and the work of thefirm.

Magda holds an LLB and an LLM in Mercantile Law from the University of Pretoria. She completed her articles at Fasken Martineau in Johannesburg and was admittedas an attorney of the High Court in 2016.

Her LLM dissertation, The Delay of Debt Review Referrals in the Magistrates’ Courts, was completed under her maiden surname, Birkholtz, in 2020 and examinedpractical and interpretative challenges affecting the finalisation of debt reviewapplications.

Her career at VDH developed through hands-on experience across the court-application process. Beginning with the drafting of applications, she progressed tocourt management work before appearing in courts across South Africa. That progression gave her a detailed understanding of how preparation, procedure andlegal argument connect in practice.

Magda’s particular focus within the firm lies at the intersection of litigation, legaldevelopment and implementation. She is closely involved in analysing developmentsin debt review law, developing the firm’s legal response to difficult or contestedissues and translating those positions into practical guidance, training and processesfor the attorneys responsible for implementing them.

As a director, she also contributes to professional training, the development of legalarguments and the refinement of internal legal processes. She values equippingattorneys and debt counsellors with the understanding to approach difficult mattersconfidently, while remaining clear about their professional responsibilities.

For Magda, the appeal of debt review lies in its unusual combination of technicallegal complexity and practical consequence: an area in which statutoryinterpretation, procedure and legal principle have immediate consequences for thepeople and institutions operating within the debt review process.