By Kevin O’Reilly

Pretoria attorney Tshepo Confidence Mashile has won the 2012 LexisNexis Prize for Legal Practitioners for the best article by a practising attorney published in De Rebus.

He won the award for his article titled ‘Parental rights and responsibilities, guardianship and same-sex parents,’ published in 2012 (Aug) DR 32.

In his article, Mr Mashile unpacked the High Court judgment in CM v NG [2012] 3 All SA 104 (WCC), which dealt with guardianship and parental rights and responsibilities in the context of a same-sex relationship.

Mr Mashile believed the topic of parental rights and responsibilities was important as ‘there has been a paradigm shift in the nature and content of parental authority in South Africa’.

‘The child’s best interests are now of paramount importance in every matter affecting the child,’ he added.

He won an iPad and one year’s free access to his choice of five online titles from LexisNexis.

Mr Mashile said that he was ‘elated’ at having been awarded the prize.

‘I feel elated, having been chosen among a pool of writers and researchers in the legal field from all over South Africa,’ he said.

Mr Mashile, 27, is an attorney at Ngwenya Attorneys in Pretoria. He specialises in civil and criminal litigation.

Edrick Roux has won the 2012 Juta Prize for Candidate Attorneys for his article titled ‘Testators should be careful what they wish for’, published in 2012 (Sept) DR 30.

In his article, Mr Roux, who was a candidate attorney at MacRobert Inc in Pretoria at the time he penned the article, considers the question of whether it is sufficient for testators attempting to protect a bequest to insert a clause in their will providing that, should the beneficiary be married in community of property, the benefit received will form part of a separate estate.

Mr Roux, 25, is a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in its estates and trust advisory division in Johannesburg.

He won book vouchers to the value of R 8 500 from Juta.

‘I am deeply honored to have been selected to win the prize and I am truly grateful to De Rebus for giving me the opportunity to submit and publish my article,’ said Mr Roux.

Mr Roux said that he was ‘passionate’ about the law of succession and trust law.

Kevin O’Reilly, kevin@derebus.org.za

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2013 (July) DR 14.