Start here: How to use this Substack

A quick guide to Kevin Lester's Substack

This is the Substack for Kevin Lester — independent advisor at kevinlester.co.za and the writer and host behind #PatternCounsel, #MiningIsHuman, #MiningOurHistory, and #BelowTheSurface.

It carries four publications.

#PatternCounsel is a monthly essay series on the management and delivery of in-house legal — the patterns that emerge across cycles, roles, and pressures. Field notes from fifteen years inside, for General Counsel, CLOs, their teams, and the firms and providers who work with them. Published first Wednesday of the month.

#MiningIsHuman is a series of stories about mining in southern and central Africa — its geology, capital, labour, infrastructure, decisions and consequences across time. The stories are published in arcs. Each arc follows a commodity, a region, or a theme, from the first concession to the current owner, mine by mine. Arcs can overlap: a mine that appears in the Northern Cape arc may also belong to the copper arc. The same ground, read differently each time.

#MiningOurHistory tells the institutional stories of Southern African business — the versions institutions have told about themselves, the versions the archive tells, and the versions that emerge when institutions are called to account. Same records. Different eyes.

#BelowTheSurface is a collection of materials from an independent advisory practice — notes, essays, presentations, and a podcast recorded with various collaborators and produced by Solid Gold Podcasts. Written and recorded for General Counsel, senior executives, and Chairs in mining and other regulated sectors. Listen on Apple Podcasts or iono.fm.