By Barbara Whittle

The Law Society of South Africa’s (LSSA’s) annual conference on 29 and 30 March, which will be held at The Maslow Time Square in Pretoria, will focus on one of the key challenges for our society: The war against corruption. The LSSA has invited new National Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Shamila Batohi, to give the profession guidance on how we can assist and cooperate with her office.

The rest of the day will be devoted to discussions on what paying members can expect from their professional association. There will also be a Q&A panel discussion with representatives of the Legal Practice Council, the LSSA and the Legal Practitioners’ Fidelity Fund. Since the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 (LPA) does not make provision for an annual meeting of members, this is a rare opportunity for practitioners to raise questions with representatives of the three organisations.

Later in the day, a panel will look at issues of concern for practitioners, including getting to grips with the new dispensation –

• Pro bono/community service: What can we, as a profession, reasonably offer?
• Conveyancing examination challenges: Why such a high failure rate?
• Section 35 of the LPA (costs).

On Saturday, 29 March the results of the LSSA’s Young Lawyer Survey will be presented. A way forward will be mapped.

A second session will consider how to address risk in your practice –

• cybersecurity risks;
• managing business risk;
• the risk of not marketing; and
• navigating the pressures of practice.

Read more and view the draft programme at: www.lssa.org.za

Online registration closes on 17 March 2019. There is no registration fee. For more information, please e-mail: LSSA@LSSA.org.za

Barbara Whittle, Communication Manager, Law Society of South Africa, barbara@lssa.org.za