The legal profession - Block 1 Year 1 notes Intro to law
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Course
Introduction To Law (LAWS1011A)
Institution
University Of The Witwatersrand (wits)
study/lecture notes on the legal profession including the need for law, attorneys, advocates, conveyancers, notary, official personnel, legal advice, prosecutor, preceding officer, state attorney, master of the high court, registrar of deeds, public protector.
Law is generally viewed as something that people follow. The law is followed because it is
supposed to create a society in which individuals can coexist with some kind of order. For a
society to prosper and to continue to exist you need a structure, someone with authority to
make the rules that all of society follows. This means that as people we cannot act with
complete freedom, if we were to act with complete freedom without any regard for other
people, if we had to do as we please when we please this would result in utter chaos and
ultimately the destruction of the society. To prevent this, people give up a complete freedom in
exchange for somebody in authority that would make the rules to create the order that is
required for the benefit of any society, as well as its longevity.
-Very briefly this is known as the social contract
For now we could perhaps accept that any society needs attainable rules that will allow for the
resolution of conflict, and that persons who are recognized as authoritative, something like this
state in our case, would give some structure and create the laws that the people of the society
will follow. Generally, conflicts cannot be resolved without a process and without rules, thus
having a proper regulatory structure in place is important.
So, if law is present we want to know:
➢ what it is
➢ how it works
➢ who or what other structures that are responsible for law making
➢ who the actors or the people are that work within the law and the lawmaking structures
Our first topic will therefore be about the makeup of the legal profession in South Africa and
this particular part will speak a little to the profession and will focus on the difference between
an advocate and an attorney.
Before we look at the actors within the legal profession we will talk about the legal profession
generally. It is referred to as an honorable profession and legal practitioners are held to a higher
standard of ethical expectations than other citizens of the society.
The reason that legal practitioners are held to this higher standard is to create a trust
relationship between the members of society and those that represent the law. In order to
follow the rules, one must trust the process and the rule makers themselves.
It is also a very old-fashioned profession with a lot of ceremony in place and how practitioners
in the courts conduct themselves. From the clothes you wear to how you address the presiding
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, officers, how you enter and leave a courtroom and how you will be heard. There is also a lot of
criticism about the profession and the fact that it is dominated by white males, but now in line
with constitutional principles, the legal profession is being changed drastically to ensure that the
profession is accessible to all those who wish to practice it in some form and also accessible to
all people- not just those who have the necessary resources.
Note that there are programs in place currently that do cater for those without means to
access legal representation and these would include things like legal and the legal aid board. But
the programs are not sufficient enough to meet the needs of the people currently. That is part
of the reason why there has been a big push for change in the legal profession. Generally, if one
wants to enter the legal profession, one needs a four-year LLB, and some specific legal players
require additional qualifications or training. We have players in the private sector and well as the
public sector.
This point will focus on the private sector and we will look at the difference between attorneys
and advocates. (As students for your studies and for your exam purposes Please ensure you know the
differences between these two actors)
ATTORNEYS
Attorneys are the general legal practitioners of the profession. They used to be admitted under
the attorney’s act and this act also regulated their conduct and discipline and gave out what was
expected of a practitioner. All attorneys are required to be fit and proper to be part of the
profession, that means that all aspects of the character must be above reproach from their
personal to their professional lives. as general practitioner, attorneys can deal with all aspects of
legal problems. Generally, clients would come to them with problems for advice and solutions,
and the work is usually administrative in nature, but if they matter involved litigation they work
were also involved court appearances.
Please note especially in the differences between advocates and attorney’s ledge attorneys are
allowed to appear in court and very often do appear, but the nature of their work means that
they would more often need to instruct advocates to appear on their behalf.
There are a few types of attorneys:
specialist attorneys
estate lawyers
patent attorneys
energy lawyers and so on
To be able to practice what needs to be admitted by the High Court and the requirements for
admission are now contained in the Legal Practice Act, which is the act that now governs all
practitioners within the legal profession.
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