He was recently named as one of the people in The Media's list of Top 40: Young, phenomenal, powerful and making waves. The Media describes him as insightful with a knack for explaining legalese to the average person.
He wrote with Pamela Stein, also a partner at Webber Wentzel, 'A Practical Guide to Media Law' published by Lexis-Nexis. The book provides an update on the legal restrictions and protections that fall under the umbrella of media law in South Africa.
Milo hopes that followers will find the blog to be "an interesting source of information." His first post covers the recent precedent-setting ruling in which he acted for MultiChoice and Eyewitness News in the application to broadcast the Oscar Pistorius criminal trial live from the Pretoria High Court.
"It seemed to me at the outset that this case would never be won in the usual adversarial manner, where the parties square up in court adopting diametrically opposed positions, each hoping to persuade the judge to adopt their approach. This was not least because the case for full TV access to a criminal trial is not an easy one - unlike appeals and applications, where no live testimony is in issue, a criminal trial involves oral evidence. And such precedents as exist in relation to broadcasting criminal trials are not entirely favourable."
He goes on to outline the approach that he and his team took to win the case. "So we engaged the parties on both sides - the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), as well as Oscar's legal team. We sought to persuade the parties that a compromised approach, permitting audio of the trial and some television, was preferable to a blanket ban on broadcast access. It was no easy task - not least because both the NPA and Pistorius had vigorously opposed in affidavits an earlier application to televise the trial."
For more information, go to www.dariomilo.com.
