Vetting an HR consultant before they draft your restraint and IP clauses

You're about to hand someone the job of locking in your company's intellectual property and restraint of trade clauses. These aren't generic boilerplate—they shape what former employees can do after they leave, and what belongs to your business. The stakes are high: a restraint clause that's too broad gets thrown out at the CCMA; one that's too loose lets a key person walk out the door with your client list. Before you hand over the draft, you need to know the consultant sitting on the other side has the credibility and rigour to get it right.

The person drafting these clauses isn't just reusing templates. They're reading your business, understanding what actually needs protecting, and writing language that will hold up if tested. That means verifying not just their experience, but whether they stay current with how courts and arbitrators in South Africa interpret restraint and IP clauses.

Check their professional registration first

Start by asking for their SAICSSP registration number—the South African Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators—or equivalent professional credential in HR consulting or employment law. Ask them to provide it; a legitimate consultant will hand it over without friction. You can verify the registration online to confirm they're active and in good standing.

If they're an attorney drafting these clauses, confirm their Law Society registration and that they specialise in employment law, not property conveyancing or wills. An HR consultant alone won't have attorney status, but they should belong to a recognised professional body. Don't assume a business card and a website mean they're registered anywhere.

Also ask whether they've completed CPD (continuing professional development) in restraint of trade law in the last two years. Labour law moves; cases reshape what's enforceable. If they can't point to recent training, they're probably relying on what they learned five years ago.

Request examples and run reference calls

Ask for two or three anonymised examples of restraint and IP clauses they've drafted—redacted to remove company names and sensitive details, but showing the structure and language they actually use. A consultant who refuses or says "everything's confidential" is a yellow flag. They should be comfortable showing you their work.

Then phone at least two past clients and ask these specific questions:

• Did the clauses actually achieve what the consultant said they would?
• Have any of your restraint clauses been tested—at the CCMA, in arbitration, or threatened—and did they hold up?
• Did the consultant ask detailed questions about who you needed to restrain and why, or did they just hand you a template with blanks?
• When labour law changed, did they flag it and suggest updates?

You're not looking for perfection; you're listening for whether the consultant understood your business and thought carefully about what you needed to protect.

Verify they grasp your specific risks

Before you brief them, watch how they diagnose what you need. A good consultant asks you hard questions: Who poses the real risk if they leave—sales people, engineers, managers? What trade secrets or client relationships matter most? Are you trying to stop them working for a competitor, or just poaching your clients?

Their first draft shouldn't be generic. It should show they've understood which roles warrant a restraint, for how long, and over what geographic area. If their quote includes "standard restraint of trade clause" as a line item with no follow-up questions, they haven't done the thinking yet.

Ask them how they stay current with CCMA decisions on restraint clauses—which ones get enforced, which get struck down and why. If they can cite a recent case or two and explain what made the difference, they're reading judgments. If they can't, they're flying blind.

Getting this right before your contracts hit someone's desk means the clauses will actually work when—if—you need them. A consultant who takes time to verify their own standing and invites your scrutiny is the one you want drafting language that'll survive a challenge. On Strove, you can search verified HR consultants in your province, read their qualifications and past client reviews, and get a sense of how they work before you meet.