• Current

    • Johannesburg Society of Advocates
      Pupil Advocate
      2025
      Victoria Mxenge Group of Advocates, Johannesburg

    Former

    • Constitutional Court Trust
      Curator: Public Engagement
      2018–2024 (promoted in 2022)
      Constitutional Court, Johannesburg

    • North-West University
      Public Programmes Coordinator
      2017
      Potchefstroom, Mahikeng, Vaal

  • PhD
    Dikgang Moseneke Fellow (2022–2024) and Mellon scholar (2022)
    Centre for Rhetoric Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town
    2022–current
    Also awarded the Sir William Solomons Memorial Scholarship (2023) and a Wilfred Kramer Law Grant (2023).

    My PhD is focussed on the aesthetic and cultural transformation of South African law and jurisprudence after apartheid through an analysis of the Constitutional Court’s symbolism, including its logo, building architecture, art collection and the notion of ‘justice under a tree’.

    LLM
    Media law (research dissertation) – cum laude
    North-West University (2017–2019)
    Awarded by NWU Law: Outstanding Academic Achievement in Masters of Law Research – Cum Laude.

    My masters degree is focussed on the regulation of the South African print and broadcast media.

    LLB
    North-West University (2013–2016)

  • Law: Environmental law, media law, intellectual property law, constitutional law, law of contract, jurisprudence

    Experience: Organisational development and governance, stakeholder engagement and communications, cultural sector and heritage management

  • Professional development (selected)

    • Protea International Curatorial Exchange, John Ellerman Foundation
      Visiting scholar to the UK Supreme Court and UK Parliament, London (April 2022)
      Research award and selected participant

    • Law Scholars Works-in-Progress workshop, hosted by the Centre for Law and Society (Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town) at the Bertha Retreat, Western Cape (May 2024)
      Selected participant

    • Node Center for Curatorial Studies, Berlin
      Theoretical Thinking and Writing in Art (certificate course)
      Queer Art and Queer Curating (certificate course)

    Publications (selected)

    • Klyntji: Publishing editor (2014–current)
      Klyntji, a registered Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) and Non-Profit Organisation (NPO), publishes an online Afrikaans journal (klyntji.com) and an annual literary zine (Ons Klyntji), focussed on diverse and progressive South African arts & culture.

    • Chapter contribution for TransAfrica: The Languages of Postqueerness
      Academic book published by Bloomsbury (2024)

    • Art & Justice: A short monograph series published by the Constitutional Court Trust (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024)

    • Opinion editorials: Mail&Guardian’s Thought Leader, DG Murray Trust’s The Human Factor, LitNet

    Guest lectures and presentations (selected)

    • Faculty of Law, University of Johannesburg

    • Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria

    • Stellenbosch University Museum

    • Department of Art History, College of Letters & Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

    • School of the Arts, University of Pretoria

    • North-West University

    Conferences (selected)

    • Argumentation 2023: Performativity in Law conference
      Masaryk University, Faculty of Law, Brno, Czech Republic
      Presenter
      Awarded UCT doctoral travel grant

    • World Congress of Constitutional Law 2024
      University of Johannesburg, South Africa
      Presenter

    • South African Museums Association National Conference (2021, 2022)
      Presenter
      Awarded FitzSimons Award for best paper presented at the SAMA National Conference 2021

    Society

    • Johannesburg Queer Chorus
      Member (2022)

    • NWU Gender Benefit Network (university organisation)
      Contributing member (2017–2019)

    • NWU Campus Pride (student society)
      Member (2016–2017)

    • Black Lawyers Association, Student Chapter NWU Potchefstroom, Branch Executive Committee
      Media & Publicity Officer (2016)

Email: francois@lioncachet.com

Francois Lion-Cachet (b. 1994) is a queer lawyer, scholar, editor and curator living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is passionate about the environment, arts and culture, and social justice.

Lion-Cachet is undertaking pupillage at the Johannesburg Bar. Before that and working on the Constitutional Court Art Collection (2018–2024), he specialised in institutional transformation through the arts. He held the Dikgang Moseneke PhD Fellowship at UCT Law between 2022–2024.