By Nomfundo Manyathi-Jele

The co-chairperson of the law Society of South Africa (LSSA), David Bekker delivered the mid-term report of the LSSA at the various AGMs of the respective law societies.

On the LLB summit, Mr Bekker said that in May 2013 the LSSA had hosted the LLB summit in conjunction with the South African Law Deans Association (SALDA), which included various stakeholders in the profession. The summit debated the content of the current LLB degree and the concerns raised by the judiciary and the profession regarding the fact that LLB graduates appear to be unprepared to enter the profession on completing the current four-year degree. ‘It was resolved to request the Council for Higher Education (CHE) to conduct a standard-setting process for the LLB degree to be concluded by 30 June 2014. The CHE should conduct this exercise by consulting widely with the LLB summit steering committee, which represents all the stakeholders who attended the LLB summit,’ he said. (See also 2013(July) DR 8.).

Mr Bekker said that in August 2013 the LSSA task team dealing with the LLB met and resolved to –

• monitor LLB standard setting by the CHE;
• invite the judiciary to attend and endeavour to include the Departments of Justice and Higher Education;
• to elaborate on the profession’s needs relating to the LLB through the LSSA’s Legal Education and Development (LEAD) department’s participation in the national conference of the Society of Law Teachers in January 2014, and
• arrange a workshop where law teachers will be guided in the integration of information technology-related law in legal subjects.

‘The task team agreed that the summit had expressed substantial consensus on the extension of the LLB degree from four to five years; however, the structure and content required further research and debate,’ he said.

Mr Bekker also highlighted several other initiatives of the LSSA, such as electronic signatures and anti-corruption and the image of the profession.

Nomfundo Manyathi-Jele, nomfundo@derebus.org.za

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2014 (Jan/Feb) DR 19.