By Kim Hawkey – Editor

2012 has been a year of movement for the legal profession. The implementation of the long-awaited Legal Practice Bill (B20 of 2012) is finally in sight after being introduced in parliament by Justice Minister Jeff Radebe in May. The Bill is one of several pieces of legislation introduced in the past year, or which entered their preliminary phases, that are expected to have a wide impact. In addition, a number of landmark judgments were handed down by the courts in 2012, although the final outcome of some of these is only expected in the upcoming year due to the appeal process.

There have been other noteworthy events in the profession in the past year. The announcement by the Justice Minister of the proposed assessment of the impact of the decisions of the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Appeal generated much attention, as did the linked ‘Discussion document on the transformation of the judicial system and the role of the judiciary in the developmental South African state’. Earlier this year the Minister also announced a planned overhaul of state legal services.

Further, 2012 increasingly saw the impact of legislation passed in the past few years, such as the Companies Act 71 of 2008, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 and the National Credit Act 34 of 2005, as the courts come to grips with matters before them relating to these pieces of legislation. For example, in our November issue we reported on a number of conflicting judgments by the various High Courts, which has created an untenable situation in conflict with the tenet of legal certainty (2012 (Nov) DR 3).

There have been several other court cases of relevance to the profession, for example in relation to the Right of Appearance in Courts Act 62 of 1995, which conferred on attorneys the right to appear in the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Court, subject to certain conditions. Recent case law related to the Act, which was reported in De Rebus, indicates an intention by the courts to level the playing field between attorneys and advocates (2012 (Sept) DR 18).

In addition, there has been a number of cases relating to legal practitioners’ fees. There have, for instance, been interesting developments in respect of contingency fees agreements. In our October issue we reported on a judgment in the South Gauteng High Court, in which Mojapelo DJP issued a practice directive on how this court will approach these agreements (2012 (Oct) DR 48), while this month we report on the matter Tjatji v The Road Accident Fund (unreported case no 22475/10); Khoza v The Road Accident Fund (unreported case no 4412/06); Mxolisi v The Road Accident Fund (unreported case no 11632/09) (GSJ) (19-10-2012) (Boruchowitz J), which is likely to have serious implications for practitioners in relation to such agreements (leave to appeal this decision has however subsequently been filed).

This month’s De Rebus also includes a report on a recent case of great importance to attorneys. In this matter the North Gauteng High Court declared a provision in the rules of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) unconstitutional for arbitrarily restricting legal representation in certain matters before the commission (see p 24), and thereby opened up a potential new area of work for practitioners. The CCMA has applied for leave to appeal the judgment; however, for now the ruling stands.

One of my favourite reads in this issue is our opinion piece (p 54), an edited version of a speech by Deputy Judge President of the South Gauteng High Court, Judge Phineas Mojapelo, in which he provides interesting insight on transformation and the independence of both the legal profession and the judiciary, as well as criticism of the four-year LLB degree. All of these matters are likely to remain on the agenda in the upcoming year, especially in light of the Legal Practice Bill.

This issue also includes reports on the annual general meetings of the Black Lawyers Association, the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society and the Law Society of the Free State, while those of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and the Cape Law Society will follow in due course. These meetings, and the subsequent reports in De Rebus, reflect on items of importance to practitioners in the past year, as well as challenges for the year ahead.

Finally, the De Rebus Editorial Committee and staff wish our readers a safe, relaxing and joyous festive season, as well as a prosperous 2013 – which promises to be another year of momentum.

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2012 (Dec) DR 3.