Law Society saddened at death of Eastern Cape attorney, Gordon Pope

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) is saddened at the untimely passing of King Williams Town attorney and legal education instructor, Gordon Pope, on 24 October 2019 at the age of 53.

Gordon’s passion was the legal profession and from the start he was involved with the Cape Law Society and the King Williams Town Attorney’s Association. He was currently serving as a member of the newly formed Legal Practice Council.

‘As we acknowledge Gordon’s contribution to the profession, we also acknowledge the immense loss to his firm, clients, and mostly to his family. We extend the condolences of the attorneys’ profession to his wife Helen Pope, and his children Emma and Jack,’ says LSSA President, Mvuzo Notyesi.

Gordon was born in Cape Town on 13 February 1966. He attended a local primary school and then spent his high school years as a boarder at Grey High School in Port Elizbeth where he matriculated in 1983. As was the custom for young men at the time, Gordon had to do two years military service. He attained the rank of corporal.

Gordon attained his BA in 1988 and his LLB in 1991. He served his articles at Barnes and Ross (now Smith Tabata) in King Williams Town and was admitted as an attorney in March 1994. After 16 years with Smith Tabata, Gordon started his own law practice in 2009 and Pope Attorneys celebrated their tenth anniversary in June this year.

For the last number of years Gordon lectured at the University of Fort Hare and was an instructor at the LSSA Schools for Legal Education since 2005. He had a passion to teach candidate attorneys and was a strong advocate for the Schools for Legal Practice.

Gordon believed in skills development in the younger generation of attorneys and put these beliefs into action via his presenting of vocational training to others. He set an example to practitioners and remained faithful to these beliefs until the very end. In this way he contributed to access of the public to quality legal services.

He suffered a stroke while training and imparting knowledge to others. The profession salutes him.