LSSA Briefing Patterns in the Legal Profession

Commitment by attorneys’ firms

Commit your firm to changing briefing patterns and the allocation of legal work in the profession

View the firms that have signed the Procurement Protocols:

Gauteng

Western Cape

KwaZulu-Natal

Eastern Cape

Limpopo

Mpumalanga

Northern Cape

North West

Free State

The Action Group on Briefing Patterns in the Legal Profession – which comprises representatives of the Law Society of South Africa, the General Council of the Bar, Advocates for Transformation and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development – invites law firms to align themselves with the Procurement Protocols on briefing which have been adopted by the legal profession.

Representatives of law firms with a mandate to sign their firms’ commitment to the protocols can sign the protocols.

The ‘Expression of Interest’ form and Procurement protocols can be downloaded below, signed and then returned to the LSSA. The firm will be included in the list of law firms that have committed to the protocol on the LSSA website. Firms will be required to report n their breifing patterns on a six-monthly basis.

How to commit to the Procurement Protocols

View the Procurement Protocols here
Download the ‘Expression of Interest Form’ here
Complete the form, sign it and return it by e-mail to briefing@LSSA.org.za or fax it to Nomsa Sethosa at 086 506 7818.
For more information, please contact Nomsa Sethosa at briefing@LSSA.org.za or (012) 441 4616 (direct) or (012) 441 4600 (switchboard).

Procurement Protocols

Procurement Protocols for the Legal Profession

We, the undersigned,

Recognising the pernicious and repugnant legacy of apartheid; race and gender based marginalisation and exclusion of black and women legal practitioners; the unfair privilege enjoyed by white male legal practitioners; the assault and affront to the dignity of black and women legal practitioners; and the structural distortions created in the skill sets of black and women practitioners;

Embracing the constitutional imperative to realise the freedom and equality of everyone and accepting that our inequitable past has produced the economic and skills distortions overwhelmingly favouring white male practitioners to the prejudice of black and female practitioners in the legal profession, and now committing to correct that history;

Acknowledging that, objectively measured, the efforts of the legal profession to reverse the imbalances flowing from our past have failed to yield the desired transformation of the legal profession;

Accepting, in particular, that, generally speaking, the transformation initiatives to empower black and women practitioners have been met with some reluctance and resistance on the part of some of members of the legal profession and industry broadly; and acknowledging that black and women practitioners have not been treated in line with the foundational constitutional values of equality; the right to equal access; the right for everyone to choose and practice their profession freely, and

Decrying the fact that government’s stated objectives structurally to transform the legal profession to reflect, broadly, the demographics of our country, have not yielded the desired outcomes;

Now Commit to this protocol and to positively promote the procurement of legal services of black and women practitioners; to actively create better access for black and women practitioners; to bridge the skill set deficits, if any, among black and female practitioners; to increase the exposure of black and female practitioners to all areas of the law; to help broaden the pool of black and women practitioners; to ensure that fair selection criteria are used in the briefing of black and women practitioners; to promote a change in attitude so as to promote the inclusion of black and women practitioners in the main stream of practice; to render bi-annual reports for the monitoring of compliance with the aims of these protocols, holding signatories to the protocols accountable; and to widen the pool of practitioners and ultimately affect the transformation of the judiciary; all in order to progressively realise the achievement of the transformation of the legal profession.

Briefing Patterns in the Legal Profession

Transformation of the legal profession, particularly with regard to briefing patterns, has become a topical and contentious issue in South Africa. In an attempt to address this, the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) hosted a summit on the distribution of work to attorneys and briefing patterns of advocates. The summit was held on 31 March 2016 and was opened by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.

Read more about the Summit here. Download the resolutions made at the Summit.

An Action Group on Briefing Patterns in the Legal Profession was established after the Summit. The Action Group, which and has been meeting on a monthly basis, comprises attorneys, advocates and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

► Read the statement here by the Action Group on Briefing Patterns in the Legal Profession — on progress made one year after the summit.

The Procurement Protocols, drafted by the Action Group, have been adopted by the legal profession. They were launched officially at a ceremony on 28 June 2017. Read the De Rebus report on the launch here.
►VIew the Procurement Protocols for the Legal Profession

View the firms that have signed the Procurement Protocols: