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Nils Braatvedt is an Executive at ENS in the Employment Law practice.

Nils advises clients on labour and employment law related issues in a variety of industries including mining, pharmaceutical manufacture, engineering, logistics and FMCG, media intelligence, e-commerce, chemical manufacture, industrial manufacturing and the renewable energy and climate finance industry.

Nils offers clients an end-to-end service offering on any issues relating to employment, which includes collective bargaining, mergers and acquisitions, dismissals, unfair labour practices, unfair discrimination disputes, retrenchments (including large scale retrenchments) and restructuring, transfers of employment in terms of section 197, changes to terms and conditions of employment, compensation and remuneration.

Nils has developed a speciality in advising and providing solutions on problems concerning commercial structures, outsourcing, the use of temporary labour and typical employment structures. These solutions are bespoke taking into account the micro and macro factors which impact business in South Africa.

Nils’ experience includes litigating, where he appears on behalf of clients, in the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, various bargaining councils, the Labour Court, the Labour Appeal Court and the Constitutional Court in a variety of different matters.

Notably, Nils has advised a major mining firm in South Africa on the collective bargaining implications revolving around the amalgamation of different mines with a view to ensuring a commercially enabled operation. In relation to the same client, Nils advised on urgent application proceedings to interdict strike action by more than 20,000 employees on substantive grounds emanating from a collective agreement. The strike was successfully averted. Additionally, Nils has successfully represented a global alcoholic manufacture company in demarcation proceedings following the acquisition of a company which fell under the road freight and logistics bargaining council. Finally, Nils is involved in policy developing work. In 2025, represented a consortium of mining companies in an Essential Services Committee enquiry into whether services performed at tailings dams should be designated as essential services under the Labour Relations Act.

• BSocSci (Rhodes University)
• LLB (Rhodes University)
• Admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa