Michael Clark

Senior Research Associate
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Michael Clark is a legal research consultant and senior research associate at SERI. He was a legal and advocacy officer at SERI between January 2013 and December 2014. Michael has considerable experience in legal research, participatory action research and advocacy in the areas of socio-economic rights,  land, access to housing, urban livelihoods, the criminal justice system and protest. Currently, Michael is also a research associate at the Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC) at the University of Cape Town.

Prior to his work at SERI, Michael was a legal researcher at the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) in New York, a legal researcher at LARC in Cape Town, and a legal researcher at the Socio-Economic Rights and Administrative Justice Research Group (SERAJ). He was also a technical editor for the Stellenbosch Law Review, a bespoke multi-disciplinary law journal. He holds an LLB from the University of Stellenbosch. 

• Jackie Dugard, Michael Clark and Stuart Wilson (forthcoming, 2018) "The Development of the Common Law of Evictions and Lease" (Human Sciences Research Council Research Paper).
• Michael Clark (2018) Towards Recommendations on the Regulation of Informal Trade at Local Government Level (SERI and South African Local Government Association (SALGA) Research Paper).
• Tim Hodgson and Michael Clark (2018) Informal Trade in South Africa: Legislation, Case Law and Recommendations for Local Government (SERI and South African Local Government Association (SALGA) Research Paper). 
• Michael Clark and Liza Rose Cirolia (2018) "Briefing Paper on Urban Land Rights" (SERI and African Centre for Cities (ACC) Briefing Paper).
• Jackie Dugard with Michael Clark, Kate Tissington and Stuart Wilson (2017) The Right to Housing in South Africa  (Foundation for Human Rights Position Paper Series).
• Michael Clark and Nolundi Luwaya (2017) Communal Tenure in South Africa 1994-2016: Commissioned Report for the High Level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation and the Acceleration of Fundamental Change in the South African Parliament (LARC Research Report).
• Michael Clark (September 2017) Student Protests: A Legal and Practical Guide (SERI Resource Guide).
• Michael Clark and Lauren Royston (July 2017) Relocating to Alternative Accommodation: Legal and Practical Guidelines (SERI Resource Guide).
• Michael Clark (June 2017) Pathways out of Poverty: Improving Farmdwellers’ Tenure Security and Access to Essential Services (Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA) Research Report).
• Michael Clark and Kate Tissington (2016) "Courts as a Site of Struggle for Informal Settlement Upgrading" in Liza Cirolia, Tristan Görgens, Mirjam van Donk, Warren Smit and Scott Drimie (eds) Upgrading Informal Settlements in South Africa: Pursuing a Partnership Based Approach to Incremental Informal Settlement Upgrading in South Africa (UCT Press), pp. 376-391.
• Michael Clark (June 2016) Preventing or Opposing a Sale in Execution: A Legal Guide (SERI Resource Guide).
• Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC) (April 2016) "People’s Law Journal: Rural Land Justice" People's Law Journal vol. 4 (Special Edition of the People's Law Journal).
• Michael Clark and Stuart Wilson (November 2016) Evictions and Alternative Accommodation in South Africa 2000-2016: An Analysis of the Jurisprudence and Implications for Local Government 2 ed (SERI Research Report).
• Stuart Wilson, Jackie Dugard and Michael Clark (2015) “Conflict Management in an Era of Urbanisation: Twenty Years of Housing Rights in the South African Constitutional Court” South African Journal on Human Rights, vol 31(2), pp. 472-503.
• Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) (July 2015) Public Interest Legal Services in South Africa: Project Report (SERI Research Report).
• Socio-Economic RIghts Institute of South Africa (SERI) (March 2015) Resisting Evictions in South Africa: A Legal and Practical Guide (SERI Resource Guide).
• Michael Clark (September 2014) "Housing and Evictions Law: Know the Law, Know Your Rights" People's Law Journal vol. 2, pp. 16-25.
• Michael Clark (June 2014) An Anatomy of Dissent and Repression: The Criminal Justice System and the 2011 Thembelihle Protest (SERI Research Report).
• Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) and the Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies (CUBES) (2013) A Tenant’s Guide to Rental Housing (SERI and CUBES Resource Guide).
• Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) and the Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies (CUBES) (2013) A Guide to Sectional Title in South Africa (SERI and CUBES Resource Guide).
• Michael Clark (November 2013) Evictions and Alternative Accommodation in South Africa: An Analysis of the Jurisprudence and Implications for Local Government (SERI Research Report).
• Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) and Legal Resources Centre (LRC) (May 2013) Report to the Constitutional Court in the Matter of Mzimela and Others v Nedbank Ltd and Others (SERI and LRC Research Report).

• Resisting evictions from farms, Michael Clark and Alana Potter, Daily Maverick (23 July 2017).
• Guidelines offer clarity on evictions and relocations, Michael Clark, Lauren Royston and Lwazi Mtshiyo, Business Day (20 July 2017).
• Bakgatla ba Kgafela’s Constitutional Court case goes to the heart of land reform, Michael Clark, African Legal Centre (18 July 2015).
• Government is dispossessing rural people, Michael Clark, Business Day (15 July 2015).
• Urbanisation: Low-cost housing not low-cost enough, Lauren Royston and Michael Clark, Mail and Guardian (11 April 2014).
• Under attack at home and at work: Operation Clean Sweep and the dark side of urban regeneration, Michael Clark and Kate Tissington, Daily Maverick (27 November 2013).
• Thoughts on a world-class African city, Michael Clark, Future Cape Town (21 August 2013).
• State suppression of popular dissent should concern us all, Michael Clark and Jackie Dugard, Business Day (6 March 2013).