Judge Gorven is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. He holds BA and LLB degrees from the University of Natal and practised at the Pietermaritzburg Bar from 1988 until his appointment to the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in November 2008. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2006.

After serving for substantial periods as an acting judge of appeal from 2014, Judge Gorven was appointed permanently to the Supreme Court of Appeal in July 2021. He retired from the Bench in April 2024.

Over the course of his judicial career, Judge Gorven delivered 72 reported judgments, including 37 emanating from the Supreme Court of Appeal. His judgments have addressed important questions of public accountability, administrative justice, access to information, refugee rights and the exercise of public power.

Among his significant judgments are Booysen v Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions & others, which set aside as irrational a decision by then Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba to prosecute Booysen under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act; and South African History Archive Trust v South African Reserve Bank and Another, in which the Supreme Court of Appeal reviewed and set aside the Reserve Bank’s refusal to provide access to records relating to apartheid-era procurement practices.

He also sat in African Transformation Movement v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others, in which the Supreme Court of Appeal set aside as irrational the Speaker’s decision refusing a request for a vote of no confidence in the President to be conducted by secret ballot.

Judge Gorven has also made a substantial contribution to legal education and advocacy training. He served on the KwaZulu-Natal Bar Council and spent six years as pupillage co-ordinator. Since 2005, he has conducted advocacy training in South Africa and internationally, and has participated in the University of Cape Town’s Judicial Forum on Transformative Adjudication.

His commitment to public interest work extends beyond the legal profession. Before his appointment to the Bench, he was a member of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers. His civil society involvement has included membership of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Christian Social Awareness and a founding role in the joint YMCA task group for action against apartheid.

He was also a founding director and treasurer of the Duzi uMngeni Conservation Trust, serving from 2006 until July 2024 and supporting its work to protect and restore the health of the Msunduzi and uMngeni rivers.