A historic meeting between Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande and the leadership of the Law Society of South Africa agreed that steps needed to be taken to expand the professional training component for attorneys beyond private law firms.
The meeting, held between Minister Nzimande and the Law Society’s Co-Chairpersons, Mr Nano Matlala and Mr Praveen Sham, accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Nic Swart, was called by the Minister to look into a number of key challenges hampering the development of law graduates within the higher education environment and professionally.
“One of my biggest concerns with regards to the profession is why government departments, and even parastatals, are not used to the same level as private law firms when it comes to the professional component of training for attorneys to get articled. This is an anomaly especially when government actually uses legal services almost daily,” Minister Nzimande said.
The meeting falls within the Minister’s role in establishing cooperation between the department and other government departments, professional councils, learning institutions, students, employers and labour, while at the same time increasing access to and articulation within the post-school education and training environment.
The meeting agreed on the need for the training of para-legal practitioners with mid-level legal qualifications.
“We need to expand access to and success of graduates, in particular black and women, and this includes the registration within the professional bodies. In this regard, the department’s vision of turning every workplace into a training space should assist young law graduates,” the Minister said.
In 2011, the Minister met with Professional Bodies as part of his response to the country’s urgent need to increase the number of graduates and professionals, in particular women and Africans, was identified.
“The Law Society welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Minister and appreciated the Minister’s concern for issues under discussion. Our joint efforts will certainly assist in addressing various challenges in the legal profession, which include the quality of academic education, opportunities for law graduates to gain access to the profession and for previously disadvantaged legal practitioners to be given empowerment and skills transfer opportunities in the profession,” said the Co-Chairperson of the Law Society, Mr Nano Matlala.
He added that it was essential for the community-based paralegal system to be strengthened and that proper training opportunities be provided to paralegals.
“While the profession agrees with mid-level education for paralegals, the issues of the regulation of and practice rights for paralegals requires intense debate to ensure that the public is properly protected,” said Mr Matlala.
Government departments need to provide training to law graduates, similar to private law firms
