WHAT IS THE LAW SOCIETY ABOUT:                                                Back to Home Page

All attorneys who practise in the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape Provinces are required, in terms of the Attorneys Act, to register as members of the Society and all candidate attorneys, serving articles within that provincial area, fall under the Society’s jurisdiction.

Insofar as its attorney and candidate attorney members are concerned, the Society -

• offers information on practice as an attorney in South Africa;
• registers contracts of articles of clerkship and community service;
  manages the attorneys admission, notarial and conveyancers examinations;
• scrutinises applications for admission as attorneys, notaries and conveyancers;
• assesses non-litigious bills of costs;
• supervises compliance with the provisions of the Act relating to annual audits of trust accounts and investigates any irregularities, qualifications or failure to comply with the
• Society's audit requirements;
  offers practice support to new attorneys;
• offers a library facility;
• offers advice to attorneys in response to a host of professional queries;
• liaises with other branches of the legal profession;
• promotes the image of the profession;
• informs the public about the work of attorneys;
  scrutinises legislation and refers any matters of public or professional interest to specialist
• committees, or individual attorneys, for comment;
• assists needy members or their widows/widowers through a benevolent fund;
• stores and updates data on all attorneys, including personal and practice particulars.

Insofar as the public is concerned, the Society -

• investigates complaints about the conduct of attorneys by putting the complaint to the attorney, by calling for a full report and by considering the complaint, with the report, to determine whether the attorney has contravened rules governing professional conduct;
• where the professional conduct rule has been contravened, by referring the matter to the Disciplinary Committee, which considers the matter and makes recommendations to Council. The recommendations may result in a resolution by Council to impose a reprimand or fine, to proceed to a full disciplinary inquiry or application to court to suspend or strike the attorney from the Roll;
• where the professional conduct rules have not been contravened, by explaining any possible misunderstanding or advising the complainant as to possible alternate courses of action;
• where there has been a striking, death or other incapacity of an attorney, the Society takes over the practice, distributes the client files and settles or refers claims in respect of trust money to the Attorneys Fidelity Fund.

The Society is run by a Council of 24 practising attorneys, 12 elected by attorneys who are not members of the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) or the National Association of Democratic Lawyer (Nadel), 6 by attorneys members of BLA and 6 by attorneys members of Nadel. On a day-to-day basis, the Society (including a branch office in the Eastern Cape) operates with an administrative staff of 36 , 9 of whom are admitted attorneys.

The Society is supported by attorney members who give freely of their time and skills by acting as examiners, assessors of bills, arbitrators, advisers on a number of issues and members of specialist committees.

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