Prof. Vivienne Lawack

Professor Vivienne Lawack holds a B. Juris (cum laude), LLB (cum laude) LLM (Nelson Mandela University), LLD (UNISA). She is an admitted, non-practising advocate of the High Court of South Africa.
She started her career as an academic at Vista University in 1995 and then at the Faculty of Law at the former University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University) from 1 January 1996 until 30 June 2002. Prof Lawack spent several years at the South African Reserve Bank, as senior payment system analyst, senior legal consultant and Manager: Financial Safety Net, from 1 July 2002 to 31 December 2006. On 1 January 2006 she joined Strate Limited as Senior Legal Counsel.
Prof Lawack has extensive academic leadership experience in the higher education sector. She was the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at Nelson Mandela University from 1 July 2008 until 31 March 2015. She then served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at UWC from 1 April 2015 until 31 December 2025. From 1 January 2025 she is a Professor in Fintech Law and Regulation in the Department of Mercantile and Labour Law, Faculty of Law at UWC. She was recently appointed as Director: Centre for African Fintech, Innovation and Law in the Faculty of Law at UWC, as of 1 October 2025.

Prof Lawack is an a-typical scholar with academic, policy, regulatory, contract and legislative drafting experience. Her field of research is in Fintech law and regulation in Africa. Prof Lawack’s scholarly work includes Fintech payments such as Central Bank Digital Currencies, cryptoassets, international digital remittances, financial inclusion and financial integrity etc.
She has published widely, including four books, numerous journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and technical legal reports. Her latest book, Vivienne Lawack (editor) Fintech Law and Regulation: An African Perspective, published by Juta in 2023, was well received in the scholarly community and by regulators and industry. This book involved 11 of her LLD/PhD students as authors/co-authors. She supervised several masters and doctoral candidates and continues to do so.
She is an engaged scholar, regularly chairing and/or participating in various committees and initiatives in the legal, financial and education sectors, leveraging her expertise to add value and push her community to greater heights. She serves on several boards/ councils, including as non-executive director of Cenfri, member of South African Judicial Education Institute Council, Kepler Board and as Deputy Chairperson of the Kepler College Board (Rwanda).