By Nomfundo Manyathi-Jele
The latest statistics released by the Law Society of South Africa’s (LSSA’s) Legal Education and Development (LEAD) division show that overall the number of practising
attorneys in South Africa has gradually risen in the last decade from 16 412 in 2005 to 23 712 in April 2015.
The report includes statistics on law degree registrations and graduations, articled clerks, admitted attorneys and permanent judges.
University statistics
The report shows that in the last six years, 2012 had the most university first year LLB, BA Law and BCom Law registrations with 7 839 enrolled, compared to 6 503 enrolments in 2015.
According to the report, the highest number of LLB graduates recorded was in 2014 where there was a total of 4 150 graduates. Of these, 2 318 were African and 2 382 were female. In 2013 there were only 3 778 graduates, which reflected a drop from the 3 809 LLB graduates the previous year.
There are currently 4 928 final year LLB students compared to 4 660 last year. Most of the students enrolled for 2015 are African (2 933) and 2 090 of them are male, this is the highest number since 2004. In addition, 6 503 first year students enrolled for a law degree (LLB, BA Law or BCom Law) this year. This shows a decline in comparison to 2010, 2011 and 2012 which had 7 330, 7 188 and 7 839 registrations respectively.
Attorney statistics
There were 15 004 male practicing attorneys as at March 2015, compared to 8 708 female attorneys. White people dominate the number of practicing attorneys at 14 694, with Africans coming in second at 5 336.
As of 1 April 2015, there were 3 060 articles registered, compared to 1 993 in 2005. While there are over 4 000 graduates from 2014, only 3 060 articles were registered between 1 April last year and 1 April 2015.
There were 2 524 attorneys admitted in 2014, more than 1 000 more than 2013 where 1 506 attorneys were admitted. Last year, 1 416 of the attorneys admitted were female. Of the total admitted, 1 185 were white and 856 were African, with 26 categorised as ‘other’.
Permanent judges
Looking at the statistics on the number of permanent judges in the country. As of 30 April there were 239 permanent judges, of these –
African males make up 28,87% of permanent judges on the judiciary.
Magistrates
The report also provides information on the number of magistrates in the country. As of 30 April 2015 there were 1 568 magistrates employed, of these –
Nomfundo Manyathi-Jele NDip Journ (DUT) BTech Journ (TUT) is the news editor at De Rebus.
This article was first published in De Rebus in 2015 (Aug) DR 13.