The De Rebus journal has been in existence for the past 68 years in different formats. Since its first issue, the journal has evolved with the times in terms of the topics covered and the way in which it is published. What has remained of utmost importance throughout the years is its mandate to be a legal education journal for the legal profession. Although published by the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA), De Rebus takes its editorial independence seriously and has never been partial to any of the constituent members of the LSSA.

Despite numerous proof that the journal is read and is a necessary legal education tool, there has been instances where the relevance of the journal has been questioned. The objectives of the journal are –

• to be an educational resource for legal practitioners, while it informs legal practitioners of the latest developments in the profession;
• to educate legal practitioners on risk aversion mechanisms and how to effectively manage their practice;
• to provide legal practitioners with a platform to discuss and share opinions on matters relating to the profession;
• to play a pivotal role in the profession as its content is authoritative, credible and enables practitioners to practise more efficiently and effectively; and
• to reinforce collegiality in the profession, which in turn promotes the maintenance of high professional standards.

On 1 February 2024 the January/February issue was published, that day the De Rebus website crashed and stopped responding because the website was viewed 26 000 times. On average, the website is visited by 57 000 individuals monthly. De Rebus has been fully digital since March 2019, with a few paid for subscription-based printed copies. This means that we can correctly track which content is consumed the most in the journal and which articles are of interest to legal practitioners at any given time. Most importantly, this also means that legal practitioners can research easily on the digital format by searching for topics, cases or legislation on the website.

By looking at the average number of the monthly unique browsers on the De Rebus website, it is apparent that there is no need to debate the relevance of the journal. Throughout the years, the De Rebus journal, has cemented its need and usefulness in the legal profession.

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2024 (March) DR 3.