It all started during 1984 when the Pretoria Master of the Supreme Court (as it was then known), sent out a Master's directive to all members on his panel of liquidators advising them that as from a particular date all requisitions submitted to the Master would have to be in the form of an Affidavit. As this would have placed an unnecessary burden on practitioners, Les Cohen and James Galloway arranged a meeting of various liquidators to discuss what plan of action should be followed. At this meeting it was decided that a delegation would visit the Master to convey the concerns of practitioners. The Master, however, refused to discuss the matter with the delegation as one of the practitioners who had been invited to the meeting did not attend. The Master was of the view that those present did not properly represent the profession and the Master was accordingly not prepared to entertain the delegation.
Ultimately the requirement that requisitions had to be in affidavit form was scrapped and this could be considered as one of the first successes which AIPSA managed to achieve on behalf of its members.
On the way back from the office of the Master, it was decided by the practitioners at the report-back meeting that a formal instruction would be given to form an association to represent the profession. Les Cohen and James Galloway were mandated to approach attorney Billy van der Merwe to prepare documentation to formalize an association. He subsequently advised the formation of a Section 21 company. Les Cohen and James Galloway settled the memorandum and articles with Billy van der Merwe who kindly waived his charges for his services!
The firm BDO Spencer Steward assisted in regard to the SA Revenue Service as SARS were opposed to a Section 21 company being registered before numerous changes had been effected to the memorandum and articles. This caused a delay in the registration for a period of some two years.
In 1992 AIPSA first approached Government with the request that legislation should be enacted to regulate the profession. The message from Government was, however, that such legislation would not be considered until there was a diploma course in place. AIPSA accordingly approached various Universities and other institutions of higher education in Johannesburg to offer such a diploma course, however, not one was at that stage willing to do so.
Accordingly in 1993 AIPSA itself commenced offering the course. The lecturers in those early days were Hans Klopper, James Galloway, Les Cohen, Mike de Villiers and Philip Reynolds. Laurie Pereira and David Rennie assisted in setting the examination papers.
With the assistance of Ralph Zulman (now a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal), who had been appointed as a part-time lecturer at RAU, RAU was persuaded to commence the diploma course. The diploma course was started at the University of Pretoria in 1996. The comprehensive lecture notes which are still used to this day were drafted by Professors David Burdette and Andre Boraine with the assistance of Tienpe Cronje. This panel still regularly updates the lecture notes with the assistance of members of the profession from time to time.
AIPSA has countrywide representation. Bearing in mind that it was formed in the same year that the City of Johannesburg turned 100 and that this is the commercial hub of the country (notwithstanding what members in other centres may say), AIPSA was dominated by its Transvaal (as it then was) members for many years. AIPSA still does not have many members in the Free State as the attorneys' profession has historically dominated the insolvency landscape in that province and practitioners have shown a resistance to joining AIPSA.
In the Western Cape, Bessie Bester and Brian Smith were amongst the first members in the Cape to join during 1987.
AIPSA as an association has been chaired by a number of distinguished practitioners. The first chairman was Henry Gunn, followed by David Rennie, Les Cohen, Laurie Pereira, Mark Lynne, Bessie Bester and its present chairman, Juanito Damons, who took over in 2005.
The original logo of AIPSA was designed by one of the AIPSA members and was replaced in the late 1990's by the present logo.
AIPSA is fortunate to have had the services of so many members who have been prepared to offer their time and expertise in the furtherance of AIPSA's aims and objective. More recently, AIPSA's mission statement was developed namely:-
"To create a transparent environment in which our members irrespective of race, creed or gender, can practice their profession in accordance with the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, so as to provide an effective, professional service to all stakeholders by skilled, independent practitioners with the highest integrity and being mindful of:
James Galloway KPMG, Johannesburg
