LEGAL CONSULTING SERVICES

Public Law Legal Consulting Services
We offer professional legal consulting services, predominantly in the area of public law. With a doctorate in constitutional law, (preceded by BA English, LLB, BA honours Lit, LLM environmental law, LLM constitutional and administrative law)  behind our proprietary consultant, we specialise mainly in all aspects of public law, with particular specialisation in energy, environmental and constitutional law. With extensive experience in local government, administrative and municipal law, regulatory compliance, and legislative drafting, we offer accurate, reliable, and insightful legal services to help navigate the complexities of government, in particular local government, and ensure project success. 
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Unique Blend of Services
Without understanding the specific protocols for engaging with municipal role-players, the project development journey can be significantly more complicated, resulting in delay and expense. We facilitate and moderate interactions between project developers, local and other authorities to ensure a frictionless engagement. 
Often, project development requires new approaches that complicate legal engagements. In this instance it is not enough to simply follow tender guidelines – deep understanding of the processes and shortcomings of local government is required. Susan Mosdell Consulting has the experience to partner through challenging and complex decisions in the energy environmental and constitutional space that can often deviate from established practice.

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Energy Law
Energy law in SA is complex and evolving. There is a shift in the industry away from centralised control to decentralised models that do not always have a clear legal framework for operation. This requires an unusually high level of legal expertise to translate technical specification into legal requirement. 
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Constitutional law
Government has not delivered on its socio economic commitments with respect to the Bill of Rights.  This creates a difficult legal position for organisations working in the gap between government and delivery.  SMC has a particular focus on government policy to address poverty. 
Environmental law
Environmental law is fragmented, with some areas of effective practice and others characterised by complete lawlessness. The track record of the mining industry is a deplorable example of business interests over public safety and highlights the disruptive impact that business can have on the public.
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Challenges in Public law
These areas, while separately described, are often collectively addressed in our work.
Evolving National Frameworks: Municipal actions are often constrained or enabled by higher-level (provincial, national) policies. Sudden changes in subsidies, grid access rules, or energy market design can undermine long-term municipal plans.  For example, the role of municipalities in the newly conceptualised SAWEM system is unclear.
Jurisdictional Uncertainty: Conflicts can arise over who has authority—e.g., can a municipality set stricter building codes than the national standard? Can it set its own taxes on fossil fuels?
Legal Challenges: Municipal initiatives (for example requiring registration of SSEG installations) often face opposition from industry or citizen groups or other spheres of government, creating conflict and possibly leading to litigation, with its attendant costs and delays.
Inter-municipal co-ordination: Inter-municipal coordination across municipal boundaries is difficult and rules and processes are required to deal with this.
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Energy Governance & Regulatory Uncertainties
Evolving National Frameworks: Municipal actions are often constrained or enabled by higher-level (provincial, national) policies. Sudden changes in subsidies, grid access rules, or energy market design can undermine long-term municipal plans.  For example, the role of municipalities in the newly conceptualised SAWEM system is unclear.
Jurisdictional Uncertainty: Conflicts can arise over who has authority—e.g., can a municipality set stricter building codes than the national standard? Can it set its own taxes on fossil fuels?
Legal Challenges: Municipal initiatives (for example requiring registration of SSEG installations ) often face opposition from industry or citizen groups or other spheres of government, creating conflict and possibly leading to litigation, with its attendant costs and delays.
Inter-municipal Coordination: Inter-municipal coordination across municipal boundaries is difficult and rules and processes are required to deal with this. 
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Financial & Resource Uncertainties
Unstable Revenue Models: Funding projects through municipal bonds, public-private partnerships, or citizen investments carries market and interest rate risks. Revenue is therefore not guaranteed.
Fiscal Capacity: There is immense inequality between municipalities. A wealthy city can invest in innovation, while a shrinking industrial town may struggle to maintain basic grid infrastructure, creating an “energy transition divide.” How to create different legal regimes for the two situations is a vexed question. 
Dependency on Grants: Many projects rely on time-limited grants, creating a “cliff edge” for funding and uncertainty about long-term operational costs.
Cost-Benefit Uncertainty: The long-term economics of investments in district heating, geothermal, or battery storage are complex and depend on future energy prices and technology costs. Municipalities need guidance on how to deal with these issues. 
Technical & Infrastructural Uncertainties
Grid Integration & Management: As local generation (solar, wind) grows, municipalities and Distribution System Operators (DSOs) face technical challenges in managing a bidirectional, decentralized grid. Who is responsible for stability and upgrades?
Technology Lock-in: Choosing a specific technology for heating/cooling (e.g., hydrogen-ready vs. all-electric) involves betting on future technology winners and supply chains.
Data Access & Ownership: To manage energy efficiently, municipalities need access to granular consumption/generation data. Ownership of this data and privacy concerns are major unresolved issues, especially given the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act.
Physical Space Constraints: Siting renewable installations, grid infrastructure, and storage systems competes with other land uses and can trigger local opposition.
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Social & Political Uncertainties
Poltical Cycles & Leadership: Municipal energy projects often span decades, but political cycles are 4-5 years. A change in local leadership can derail or deprioritize long-term plans. Municipalities need guidance on how to ensure projects run their full duration. 
Public Acceptance & Equity: Projects can face NIMBYism (“Not In My Backyard”). There is also the critical uncertainty of ensuring a just transition—will energy poverty be alleviated or exacerbated? How are benefits and costs distributed among citizens?
Skills Gap: Municipalities often lack the in-house technical, legal, and financial expertise to develop, procure, and manage complex energy projects, leading to dependency on external consultants. The costs of this need to be managed. 
External & Systemic Uncertainties
Macroeconomic Shocks: Inflation, supply chain disruptions (as seen post-COVID), and geopolitical events can dramatically increase the cost and timeline of projects.
Climate Change Itself: Changing weather patterns affect heating/cooling and the reliability of some renewable sources (e.g., hydropower, wind patterns), making demand forecasting harder.
Pace of Technological Change: Rapid innovation at the national/global level can make a municipality’s chosen solution obsolete or uneconomical faster than anticipated.
Additional services
We offer language editing and proofreading services of legal and academic documents and are accredited at a number of institutions to perform these functions.
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Contact details
Susan Mosdell 0834620816
Available to consult in person on request, subject to suitable travel arrangements, or online.

Also available for a brief meeting to assess whether we can assist clients, free of charge.