South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, there are two main branches of legal practitioner: attorneys, who do legal work of all kinds, and

advocates An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

, who are specialists litigators. Attorneys may form professional firms and practice in

partnerships A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governm ...

, ranging in size to the "Big Five" law firms. The profession is regulated by the ''Attorneys Act, 1979 (Act No. 53 of 1979)''. See: Advocates in South Africa. There are currently around 21400 attorneys and 5000 candidate attorneys in South Africa, each of which are represented by the LSSA (Law Society of South Africa)

Training

For admission as an attorney, the academic qualification required is an LLB from a South African university; see and Legal education in South Africa. (Historically, the B.Proc. degree was also offered.) One then serves "

articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: ...

" as a candidate attorney with a practicing attorney for a period specified according to the qualification of the candidate (generally two years if an appropriate legal degree has been obtained); the length of articles may be reduced by attending a practical legal training course or performing

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performe ...

. The candidate must also write a "board exam" set by the relevan
provincial Law Society
The examination comprises the following: *Paper 1: Practice and procedure (criminal procedure, supreme court procedure, magistrates’ court procedure and motor vehicle accident claims); *Paper 2: Wills and Estates; *Paper 3: Attorneys’ practice, contracts and rules of conduct; *Paper 4: Legal bookkeeping. Attorneys may additionally qualify as

Notaries A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

and

Conveyancer In most Commonwealth countries, a conveyancer is a specialist lawyer who specialises in the legal aspects of buying and selling real property, or conveyancing. A conveyancer can also be (but need not be) a solicitor, licensed conveyancer, or a f ...

s, via the Conveyancing and Notarial Practice Examinations; those with technical or scientific training may further qualify as

patent attorney A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and op ...

s, see §South Africa there. Although not formally required for practice, further training, e.g. in tax, is usually via specialised

postgraduate diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award pos ...

s or

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

programmes. See .

LSSA

The LSSA (Law Society of South Africa) consists of the regulatory and disciplinary bodies for practising attorneys in South Africa. Attorneys are required to register at the relative provincial law society where they practice in terms of the Attorneys Act, 1979.

Attorneys and Advocates

Attorneys are engaged directly by clients, acting as the “manager” of litigious cases. Although both attorneys and advocates may appear in the High Court of South Africa,"LAW PROFESSIONALS"
, Research Commissioned by Department of Labour South Africa. they will 'brief' an advocate when specialist

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

, is required. The split between ''attorney'' and ''advocate'' in South Africa mirrors the split between

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

and

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

in other Commonwealth countries, with attorneys having broadly equivalent roles to solicitors and advocates having broadly equivalent roles to barristers.

References

{{Reflist Region-specific legal occupations Law of South Africa South African lawyers