Willem H. Gravett is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Procedural Law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Pretoria. He graduated from the University of Pretoria with the degrees BLC (with distinction) in 1994 and LLB (with distinction) in 1996. In 1997 Willem was awarded the Bradlow International Human Rights Law Scholarship for 1997-1998. In 1998, he received the LLM degree summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in the United States. In December 2015 Willem was awarded the LLD degree from the University of Pretoria with a thesis entitled: ‘To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’: Jan Christian Smuts (1870 – 1950) and the genesis of international organisation and human rights. Willem was the recipient of, among others, the Schiltz Prize for the best student in the final year of the BLC degree, the Grotius Medal and Harold Galasko Prize for the best student in the final year of the LLB degree, and the Butterworths Prize for the student who wrote the best essay. At Notre Dame Law School he received Dean's Awards for Excellent Achievement in International Law and Accountability for Gross Violations of Human Rights. In 1998 Willem was admitted to practice in New York and joined an international law firm in New York City. Between 1998 and 2012 he had an active trial practice in New York, trying more than 130 cases to conclusion. Willem completed his formal trial advocacy training at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (1998) in South Bend, Indiana, and at the American Bar Association’s Family Law Trial Advocacy Institute at the University of Houston (2004). Willem was appointed as an extra-ordinary lecturer in the Department of Procedural Law in 2013, as a full-time Lecturer on 1 February 2014, and as a Senior Lecturer on 1 January 2016.

Willem's main areas of interest are Trial Advocacy and Litigation Technique, Judicial Decision-making, Legal Practice, Law of Evidence, and Civil Procedure.  He also engages in research on the history of International Law and Organisation, specifically the contribution of Jan Christian Smuts.