The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) welcomes the appointment of Adv Shamila Batohi as National Director of Public Prosecutions. ‘We are confident that Ms Batohi has the skill, conscientiousness, integrity and independence necessary to tackle the challenge of leading our prosecutorial services, and to ensure a stable directorate that serves the public of South Africa professionally, effectively and fairly, and provides a proud mirror of our criminal justice system to the outside world. We offer the support of the attorneys’ profession to Ms Batohi,’ say LSSA Co-Chairpersons Ettienne Barnard and Mvuzo Notyesi.

We wish again to commend President Cyril Ramaphosa for the transparent and inclusive process which he set out for the applications, nominations, shortlisting and interviews. The profession, and the public in general, were able to follow the rigorous and robust interviews, and form opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate.

We also wish to thank Minister Jeff Radebe, who chaired the advisory panel, and all the panel members for their service, especially Richard Scott who represented the LSSA on the panel.

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE CO-CHAIRPERSONS OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA, ETTIENNE BARNARD AND MVUZO NOTYESI
LSSA Communications:
Barbara Whittle barbara@LSSA.org.za Tel: (012) 366 8800 or 083 380 1307
Nomfundo Jele nomfundom@LSSA.org.za Tel: (012) 366 8800 or 072 402 6344

Law Society welcomes appointment of Adv Shamila Batohi as NDPP. Read press release.

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) has appointed an independent law firm to investigate the leakage of the August 2018 Attorneys Admission Examination papers.

An independent whistle-blowing line, email and sms facility has been created for reporting any information relating to the leakage of the above exam papers. If you have any information relating to the leakage, please report this information using the contact details below.

All disclosures made will be treated with strict anonymity. The names and contact details of individuals making the disclosures will not be provided to the LSSA or the firm investigating the leakage unless permission has been granted by the caller.

Reports can be made to any of the following channels:

• Unique free call 0800 number – 0800 61 12 09
• SMS short code – 33490
• Toll free facsimile – 0800 212 689
• Online reporting – www.whistleblowing.co.za
• E-mail – information@whistleblowing.co.za

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE CO-CHAIRPERSONS OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA, ETTIENNE BARNARD AND MVUZO NOTYESI
LSSA Communications:
Barbara Whittle barbara@LSSA.org.za Tel: (012) 366 8800 or 083 380 1307
Nomfundo Jele nomfundom@LSSA.org.za Tel: (012) 366 8800 or 072 402 6344

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) continues into the Legal Practice Act dispensation as a voluntary, representative, professional interest body for attorneys.

‘The LSSA is concerned at the confusion created by reports that the new Legal Practice Council has replaced the Law Society of South Africa. These reports are factually incorrect as the LSSA continues to exist as an independent body to represent, support, assist and train  attorneys,’ say LSSA Co-Chairpersons Mvuzo Notyesi and Ettienne Barnard.

In the dispensation preceding 1 November 2018, the four provincial law societies – the Cape Law Society, KwaZulu-Natal Law Society, Law Society of the Free State and the Law Society of the Northern Provinces – were the only statutory regulatory bodies for attorneys in terms of the Attorneys Act, 1979. These four law societies, together with the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) and the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel) (the latter two being voluntary associations), were the six constituent members of the LSSA, a voluntary association of those six bodies. The LSSA was never a statutory body.

The Legal Practice Council is the new statutory regulatory body for legal practitioners (attorneys and advocates) in terms of the Legal Practice Act, 2014, which came into operation on 1 November 2018. The four statutory provincial law societies are now regional offices of the Legal Practice Council and are no longer constituent members of the LSSA.

The LSSA recently amended its constitution in terms of which BLA and Nadel remain its constituent members, and the provincial law societies have been replaced by voluntary provincial attorneys’ associations.

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE CO-CHAIRPERSONS OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA, ETTIENNE BARNARD AND MVUZO NOTYESI
LSSA Communications:
Barbara Whittle – barbara@LSSA.org.za Tel: (012) 366 8800 or 083 380 1307
Nomfundo Jele – nomfundom@LSSA.org.za Tel: (012) 366 8800 or 072 402 6344