Irene is a practising Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, based at the Johannesburg Bar. Her areas of specialisation include Administrative and Constitutional Law, Tax, Asset Forfeiture, Economic Crime, Fraud Risk Management, and litigation related to State Capture. She brings a principled and strategic approach to every matter, underpinned by a strong commitment to the rule of law and public accountability.

Before joining the Bar, Irene gained extensive experience in the property law sector and later served in the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate. There, she focused on high-stakes prosecutions involving complex economic crime, tax evasion, grand corruption, extraditions, and international cooperation. Her work has spanned both domestic and cross-border efforts to combat organised financial crime and protect public resources.

Irene's broader professional mission is rooted in public interest litigation and governance reform. She is especially passionate about advancing systems that protect emerging and developing economies from the corrosive effects of state capture and corruption. For her, the fight against economic crime is not only a legal imperative but a social one: to ensure that public resources are used to uplift citizens, uphold dignity, and build resilient, equitable societies across Africa.

Outside of the legal landscape, Irene has also found her new passion in the creative space. Through her journey with the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, she rekindled a long-standing love for the arts and storytelling. In this new chapter, she hopes to tell compelling African stories—stories that celebrate the richness, warmth, resilience, and brilliance of African people in all their dimensions. Her aspiration is to contribute to narratives that affirm African identity, creativity, and joy, and that offer the world a lens into the soul and substance of what it means to be truly African. She believes it is no coincidence that humanity’s origins trace back to Africa. For her, this truth is not just scientific—it is sacred. She believes we are called to journey inward and explore why it was destined for life to begin here, and what it is in Africa’s roots that speaks to the essence of what it means to be truly human.