Carla Martin, a new director at Garlicke & Bousfield, enjoys the challenge and perfection that comes with property law.
Being greeted by the words, “I am really not very interesting, one of three children, all very ordinary and yes, I do have middle child syndrome!” by Garlicke & Bousfield’s newest director certainly piqued my curiosity.
Born in Durban, Carla Martin and her two brothers were educated locally, Carla at Durban Girl’s High School, and her brothers at DHS, following in their father’s and grandfather’s footsteps. “My childhood was spent playing tennis and cricket with my brothers in the back yard of our home, breaking windows on numerous occasions and frequently having to retrieve stray balls from our neighbour’s garden.”
Despite spending most weekends at Westridge Tennis Club – or following the various family members’ participation in tennis, cricket and hockey matches – Carla was always serious about school. She attributed her conscientiousness from a young age to the fact that she is by nature competitive, and because her friends were all clever, she aspired to keep up with them academically. Modest, yes, but as I was to find out, the woman I was interviewing is clearly a force to be reckoned with.
“Why law?” I asked. Carla’s response was interesting: “It was law or teaching. I registered for a BA initially, then converted this to a BCom. On the strength of a bursary from Toyota and support from my parents, my BCom Degree was paid for, but my parents were unable to subsidise further tertiary education. Numerous part-time jobs enabled me to finance my law degree.”
It turned out Carla has been working part-time since the age of 16, holding down jobs such as working in clothing shops, a well-known high-end department store, and as a cashier at Unisa over the annual registration period. She also tutored students in Jurisprudence and Family Law while studying for her LLB Degree. Clearly, Carla’s experience of student life was not the totally carefree social experience that many enjoy. She filled most of her spare time with employment to fund her education and hours in the law library at Howard College accessing the textbooks she could not afford to purchase for herself. “Failing was not an option,” explained Carla.
On graduating, Carla joined the litigation department of a local law firm. The adversarial and unpredictable nature of litigation did not appeal to Carla, and while she studied towards her professional exams as an attorney, she also studied for her conveyancing exams, achieving both and being admitted as an attorney and a conveyancer of the High Court on the same day!
“Why conveyancing?” I asked. “I enjoy the collaborative and mostly cooperative process of conveyancing. The task is usually completed with a positive result for all parties,” she responded. Carla joined Garlicke & Bousfield in December 2001 as an associate. “I was very excited about joining G&B. The firm had an enviable reputation in property law, and I was looking for a challenge. On my first day I remember feeling absolutely overwhelmed, but my mentor, Graeme Phillips, would not indulge such feelings and I was immediately exposed to development work and a wide range of issues affecting property ownership in this country. I worked with some seasoned paralegals and my learning curve was literally exponential.”
Carla explained that no two days are the same in her practice. “In property law, you have to consider the impact of a variety of other legal issues, such as tax, commercial considerations, contract law, banking law, family law and the effect of marital status on transactions. Every day you are being examined by the Deeds Office – every transaction you lodge is scrutinised and anything less than 100% can mean financial prejudice to clients.” Clearly, Carla is a perfectionist and years of grit and determination in successfully completing and funding her studies has made her a quietly formidable attorney.
At 47 Carla is a proud mother of two children and her decision to accept the position as a director was made with the acknowledgement that both children are at an age where they can cope with the demands of school life independently. “My husband, Patrick, says he parents by instinct, while I parent by the book.” Patrick is a successful structural engineer and a hands-on dad, and his close involvement with the children and their extracurricular activities, which include violin and piano lessons, has allowed Carla to take this next step in her professional career.
An interest in music is another common thread in this family with Carla describing growing up to the sounds of the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel and expressing the view that “Paul McCartney is timeless; he still draws a crowd after all these years and truly bridges the generation gap.” By introducing music to her children at a young age and fostering a love of playing an instrument, Carla hopes to offer some balance to the materialism and the pressures of social media the younger generation is exposed to.
There is no doubt that Garlicke & Bousfield will benefit hugely from the work ethic and measured views of this experienced property lawyer. As for the middle child syndrome – I saw no signs of that!
Pictured: Carla Martin – a newly appointed director at Garlicke & Bousfield – is highly regarded in the field of property law.