| Law Society and its functions |
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Introduction
ACTIVITIES, FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF PERIOD JULY 2008 – PRESENT Did you know:
PROFESSIONAL AFFAIRS The Head of the Department with the assistance of the Director attends to the affairs of the 24 person Council, which include the handling and planning of meetings, preparation of agendas and minutes, carrying out decisions made by the Council and the drafting of the President’s Report. The department is also responsible for arrangements relating to meetings of the Council with other role players as well as all arrangements relating to the annual general meeting of members and special meetings. Expert Committees The following committees were functioning during the period under review:
The committees consider matters in their field of expertise and regularly liaise with other role players in the profession and with Government Departments. The committees also consider the draft legislation and recommendations by the SA Law Commission and make submissions on such matters. The opinions and recommendations of the committees are submitted to the Council. Provincial Circle Councils The provinces within the jurisdiction of the Law Society, being the Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West Provinces, are functioning as Law Councils with a Circle Council which forms part of the structures within the organised profession. The powers of each Circle Council are determined by the constitution of the Circle Councils, which have been restructured to be representative. All administrative and secretarial services to the Circle Councils are rendered by staff members of the Law Society. Records Department Record of information of members:
The Records Department attends to matters including the capturing and updating of information on individual members as well as attorney’s firms and the collection of subscription fees, additional levies and contributions payable to the Attorneys Fidelity Fund. The section also issues Fidelity Fund Certificates to members and is responsible for the processing of applications for annual certificates submitted by firms. Practical Examinations Responsible for the administration of the practical examinations written twice annually, being the attorneys admission examination, conveyancing examination and the notarial examination. Attorneys Admission Examination AUGUST 2008
FEBRUARY 2009
AUGUST 2009
FEBRUARY 2010
Conveyancing
Notarial Practice
Contracts of Articles from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009 During the year 1 267 contracts of articles of candidate attorneys have been registered and 140 contracts of service in respect of candidate attorneys employed at accredited law clinics of the Legal Aid Board. 232 Cessions of contracts of articles have been registered and 15 cessions of contracts of service. 1 553 Certificates of Right of Appearance have been issued during this period. Admissions/Court Applications Applications for admissions as attorneys, notaries and conveyancers are considered by the Law Society to ensure compliance with the statutory requirements and if required, comments are submitted to the High Court. The processing of applications for re-admissions (striking), applications for enrolment in terms of section 20 of the Attorneys Act 1979, applications for enrolment of practitioners from other Law Societies, the issuing of certificates relating to the right of attorneys to appear in the High Court and annual prizes awarded by the Law Society are also dealt with. Admissions during the period 01 July 2007 to 30 June 2008 were as follows:
FINANCE DIVISION The financial affairs of the Law Society and the monthly reporting are dealt with by the Head: Financial and eight members of staff in the finance team. The Law Society derives its income from two main sources being members’ subscriptions and collection commission from the Attorneys Fidelity Fund. HUMAN RESOURCES The Human Resources Department attends to training and skills development for staff on the basis as provided for in the Skills Development Plan and also ensures that appointments are made in accordance with the affirmative action policy and employment equity plan of the Council. DISCIPLINARY DEPARTMENT The Disciplinary Department is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of complaints of alleged unprofessional or dishonourable or unworthy conduct on the part of attorneys, the handling of telephonic and written enquiries from members of the public and attorneys, the investigation of complaints relating to people holding themselves out as attorneys and the investigation and prosecution of members failing to pay their subscription fees, fines and costs imposed by the Disciplinary Committees. Members who fail to lodge their accountant’s reports, as required by the rules, are prosecuted, instructions are given to the Society’s attorneys for applications for strikings and suspensions, and all arrangements relating to the Disciplinary Committee meetings and appearances before the Council in terms of Rule 101 of the Rules of the Law Society are made. Where attorneys have misappropriated trust funds, the matters are referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for prosecution. During the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009 7 990 complaints were received and investigated concerning alleged unprofessional or dishonourable or unworthy conduct on the part of practitioners. Of this total, 1 304 represented written enquiries from the public which were attended to. The following main categories of complaints were dealt with:
733 attorneys and 3 candidate attorney appeared before the Committees and 103 members made use of legal counsel. 627 complainants and witnesses attended the Disciplinary Committee meetings. Following these Disciplinary Committee meetings and in terms of Rule 101, the conduct of 21 attorneys was referred to the Council for consideration of High Court applications for suspensions and strikings. The names of 24 attorneys were, on application by the Law Society, struck from the roll of practicing attorneys, whilst 25 practitioners were suspended by the Court and 6 were instructed not to practice for their own account. As at 30 June 2009, 117 applications were pending. During the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009 8 344 files were closed and of these, 5 406 files were files opened during the reporting year. The balance of 2 938 were files opened prior to the reporting year. As at 30 June 2009 for the book year 2009 there were 2 397 files pending and in total there are 3 508 (all files) files pending. MEMBERS AFFAIRS The Department’s activities can be divided in four sub-divisions being Monitoring, Practice Support, Curators and Assessment Unit. Monitoring Unit It is the goal of this Unit to act pro-actively to limit the risk of losses that might be suffered by the Attorneys Fidelity Fund. This Unit undertakes visits to attorneys firms with a view to assess the position and if necessary to conduct financial investigations. The services are being rendered by the fulltime employees and external consultants. In identifying firms to which visits are undertaken to conduct inspections, reference is made to complaint profiles and information obtained from other sources such as auditors, colleagues, employees, financial institutions and investigation units. The system therefore also provides for anonymous information, which is verified and a profile on the firm established. Before an inspection is conducted, the Council is to formally authorise the Monitoring Unit to proceed if it is satisfied that the information indicates a risk to the profession. Investigation into accounting records and documents were undertaken at 183 firms. The investigations resulted in 56 striking and suspension applications to Court in light of the misappropriation of trust funds. 85% Of the investigations conducted resulted in disciplinary enquiries. The Unit also attended to 229 qualified auditors’ reports of which a total of 130 reports reflected trust shortages during the period under review. In 80% of these matters, the shortage was created through administrative errors or incorrect accounting procedures. When conducting an investigation of an attorney’s accounting records and certain discrepancies are discovered in these accounting records, the Law Society through its inspectors also considers if the discrepancies discovered should not have been also discovered and noted by the firm’s auditors and reported to the Law Society in their accountants’ reports. If the Law Society is of the opinion that the auditors could have been negligent in the performance of their duties as auditors of the attorneys’ accounting records, the matter is reported as a complaint to the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (the “IRBA”). Investigations of the accounting records of five (5) firms of attorneys have caused complaints for alleged negligence submitted by the Law Society to the IRBA. The Law Society received 51 accountants’ reports which were signed by accountants, however in enquiring established that the reports were forged and that no audit was conducted. These matters were referred to the SAPS for further investigations. The members did not ensure that a registered auditor conducted and signed off a report. The Council appointed an Ad Hoc Committee to consider a revised audit programme with a view to develop a pro-active detection based risk management tool. The Committee is in the process of considering proposals on an improved audit programme. Business Development and Practice Support Unit The Unit assists firms to ensure that trust accounts receive preferential and beneficial interest rates and bank charges. It has also evolved into a practice support Unit, facilitating programs aimed at enhancing practitioners’ general practice management, bookkeeping and accounting skills, as well as those aimed at a general understanding of compliance related issues. It is also engaged in establishing a communication link between the Law Society of the Northern Provinces (in its role as a regulatory institution) and its members, part of which is to ensure that there will be clear knowledge and understanding by the members, of the various service centres within the management structures of the Law Society, as well as of the administrative procedures applicable in such centres. Judging from the remarks and responses so far, the Unit represents a necessary and very important activity for the regulatory body. In the financial year just ended, the Unit visited 543 law firms and 835 firms were contacted through alternative means of communication, namely faxes, e-mail and telephone contact. 4 Banking institutions were visited, with the Unit intervening on behalf of certain law firms to ask banks to rectify trust account structures. 26 Banks were contacted through other means. Overall, there were 4 instances where trust accounts did not have the correct credit interest rates, 4 where only the charges formulae were incorrect and 34 where both the interest tables and charges formulae were not compliant. The estimated potential loss of trust interest was therefore R1 103 670.81 and potential saving on trust bank costs could have been R99 584.40. 29 Firms were assisted to computerise their accounting records. Bookkeeping training workshops for law firms were conducted by the Unit. Practitioners have shown a great interest in them and the workshops conducted so far have had a positive response and turn out, with the attendees even asking for repeat sessions. Curators Unit In those instances where an attorney is suspended from his/her practice or removed from the roll of attorneys, the High Court will appoint a curator bonis over such practice. In the event of a sole practitioner passes away, consideration will also be given to bring an application to the High Court to be appointed as the curator bonis over the practice. The Curators Unit is responsible to give effect to the duties, rights and obligations imposed upon the curator bonis in accordance with the provisions of the Court order. On being appointed the Curators Unit attend to the specific practice in order to attend to the winding down of the practice. The winding down of a practice includes, inter alia, taking into possession all of the client files of the practice. The former clients are advised of the status of the suspended or struck member and requested to furnish the Unit with instructions as to how to deal with and release the files. Steps are taken to ensure that the correct procedure is followed to release the client files into the possession of the client or his/her new attorney of record as soon as possible. In certain circumstances use will be made of the services of panel attorneys to assist the curator bonis in his duties. The Unit also takes control over the trust account of the practice. Accordingly the accounting records are also taken into possession to enable the curator bonis to identify the trust creditors to the trust account of the practice, and to proceed with the liquidation of the trust account. If the claims against the trust account of the practice exceed the available trust funds, such claims are referred to the Attorneys Fidelity Fund, where after the trust account will be closed and the available balance be paid over to the Attorneys Fidelity Fund. For the period of July 2008 to June 2009 the Curators Unit was involved in:
In one case an appeal is pending. At present there are 310 practices over which a curator bonis has been appointed. Assessment Unit During the report period 419 requests (an increase of 2.86%) were received to determine fees in terms of Rule 80, of which 146 applied to litigious matters and therefore fell outside the jurisdiction. 261 Assessments were finalised (an increase of 3.06%) of which 71 were settled. No requests for review before the High Court have been received. 4 Matters were referred to the Disciplinary Department to investigate possible overreaching or overcharging by the attorney concerned. COMMUNICATION UNIT The Council of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces is continually improving communication with members and the marketing of attorneys’ services and is also aware of the importance of properly attending to its trade union function. All communication projects focus therefore on not only on promoting the image of the profession, but also promoting members’ interests by way of presenting seminars on topics of practical value to members. Special Projects Wills Week The Law Society of the Northern Provinces successfully presented an annual Wills Week for a number of years. This project was presented on a national basis by the Law Society of South Africa and its six constituent members during the week of 1 to 5 September 2008. The aim of this campaign was to make the public aware of the importance of drafting a will and to create an environment of client care. The campaign also aimed to assist members of the public who would not normally make use of the services of an attorney, or who may hesitate to make use of the services of an attorney to draft a will. A total of 328 firms participated in the project. Black Lawyers Association Annual General Meeting and Conference The Communication Unit assisted the Black Lawyers Association with the arrangements for its annual general meeting and conference which was held on 24 October 2008. Charity Golf Day – 13 March 2009 The annual charity golf day was held at the Pretoria Country Club on 13 March 2009. R65 000 was raised at the event. A student from the University of North West received R12 000, to be used for a hearing aid, and the remainder will be donated to a charity organisation in the North West Province. In future the proceeds of the annual charity golf day will be donated, on a rotational basis, to a charitable organisation in one of the provinces of the Law Society. Mandatory Pro Bono Scheme Members approved a new pro bono rule at the 2008 annual general meeting and this lead to the implementation of a mandatory pro bono scheme. Members were invited to register for the scheme by completing a questionnaire and a database was compiled from the 2338 responses received. The scheme was initially launched in Gauteng and the first referral under the scheme was made on 1 July 2009. National Attorneys Week The Law Society of the Northern Provinces successfully presented an annual Attorneys Week for a number of years. This project is now presented nationally under the auspices of the Law Society of South Africa. The National Attorneys Week will be presented during the week of 7 – 11 September 2009 by the Law Society of South Africa. Members of the profession who volunteered to participate in the project will be providing a free first consultation to members of the public. A total of 393 firms will be participating in the project and public hospitals, clinics and libraries, police stations, courts and municipalities in the Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West Provinces will, for the first time, market the project. MpumalangaAttorneys Council Bursary Fund and Charity Golf Day During 2005 the Mpumalanga Attorneys Council, as part of its social responsibility, established a bursary fund to assist indigent prospective and/or existing students, hailing from the Mpumalanga Province, to study law. The Mpumalanga Attorneys Council initiated a charity golf day, to be hosted in August 2009, to raise funds for the bursary fund. A vast number of companies were approached and requested to sponsor not only the golf day, but to also make donations to the fund. North West Attorneys Council Bursary Fund and Charity Golf Day The North West Attorneys Council is in the process of establishing a bursary fund and the Council was assisted with the arrangements for a charity golf day to raise funds for the bursary fund. Projects Circle Council Websites The Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo Circle Councils updated their websites. Information relevant to the attorneys’ profession was added to the websites, including the relevant provincial legislation, the NewsFlash, information regarding the activities of the Circle Councils as well as the Rules of Court. Updating of Brochures The provincial Circle Councils identified the need for the publication of brochures aimed at informing members of the public on general legal matters. The Circle Councils updated existing brochures and they were published under each Circle Council’s name. Provision was also made for firms to add their particulars to the pre-printed brochures which could then be used as firm-specific marketing material. NewsFlash The NewsFlash originated as a project of the Mpumalanga Attorneys Council. The aim was to establish ongoing communication with its members and to regularly inform members of recent and important developments within the profession as well as interesting news items. Due to the success of this initiative and the positive feedback received the NewsFlash was later distributed to all members in all four provinces. Recent legislation and judgments were added to the information made available via the NewsFlash and members can request copies of these documents. The response was overwhelming and a great number of compliments and expressions of gratitude were received from members. Newsletters Five issues of Society News, the official newsletter published by the Law Society, which is distributed to all members, were published during the year under review. Seminars Mentorship Programme The Gender and Transformation Committee initiated a Mentorship Programme. Senior members of the profession were invited to act as mentors and young female attorneys were invited to register as mentees. Ms Michelle Beatson presented a very successful and informative workshop on mentorship and coaching to 16 senior members, who registered as mentors, on 6 May 2009. Continuing the programme, these 16 trained mentors will identify mentees whom they will assist with career and skills development. Women’s Conference The Gender and Transformation Committee will be hosting the Women’s Conference on 3 and 4 September 2009. The theme of the conference is “Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women”.A special award will be presented to Ms Graça Machel, wife of former President Nelson Mandela, at the conference. A number of high profile speakers will address delegates at the conference. Workshop on Effective Business Writing Numerous complaints regarding the quality of documents prepared by junior practitioners were received from members. This has led to the request by senior members of the profession that a workshop on Effective Business Writing, aimed at junior practitioners, be presented. Members of the Bar in Pretoria and Johannesburg will present workshops which will run concurrently in Pretoria and Johannesburg during the week of 13 to 17 July 2009. Seminars The presentation of seminars by the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and the provincial Circle Councils not only serves to inform and educate members of the attorneys’ profession, but also fulfils the trade union function of the Law Society. Members are informed of the most recent developments in the various fields of the law as well as of ways of effectively managing their practices.
Seminar on Family Law The Gauteng Law Council presented a seminar on Family Law on 30 July 2008. The seminar focussed on the recent changes to the Children’s Act and was fully booked with 370 members attending the seminar. Seminars on Conveyancing During the year under review, four seminars on conveyancing were presented by the Gauteng Law Council and Mpumalanga Attorneys Council. A total of 500 delegates attended the seminars. Seminar on Deceased Estates Three seminars on the Administration of Deceased Estates were presented by the Law Society of the Northern Provinces, the Limpopo Law Council and the Mpumalanga Attorneys Council during July and October 2008. The seminars were attended by a total of 434 delegates. Seminar on the Consumer Protection Bill The Gauteng Law Council presented a seminar on the Consumer Protection Bill on 2 October 2008. At this stage the Bill had not yet been promulgated. A total of 231 delegates attended the seminar. Seminars on Preparing for the Admission Examinations Seminars were once again presented to candidate attorneys assist them with their preparations for the admissions examinations. The Gauteng Law Council presented two seminars ahead of each of the Admission Examinations which were written during August 2008 and February 2009. The four seminars were attended by a total of 279 candidate attorneys. Corporate Law Seminar A seminar on Corporate Law, presented by the Law Society of the Northern Provinces on 22 May 2009, was attended by 312 delegates. Tax Law Seminar The Gauteng Law Council presented a seminar on Tax Law, which was attended by 105 delegates, on 12 June 2009. The Council of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces is confident that communication with members was successfully maintained and improved during the year under review. The Communication Unit is continuously to identifying ways in which the image of the Council and profession can be improved.
HESTER BEZUIDENHOUT HEAD: COMMUNICATION UNIT |
Provinces
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