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Attorneys Act, 1979 (Act No. 53 of 1979)

Rules for the Attorneys' Profession

Part VIII : Miscellaneous

Law Clinics

 

52. Any law clinic which seeks recognition as a law clinic for purposes of the Act and of these rules shall comply with the following requirements:
52.1 the clinic shall be properly constituted, organised and controlled to the satisfaction of the Council, either as part of the faculty of law at a university in the Republic or as a law centre controlled by a non-profit making organisation;
52.2 the clinic must provide legal services to the public;
52.3 the legal services provided by the clinic must be rendered free of charge, direct or indirect, to the recipient of those services; provided that:
52.3.1 the clinic may recover from the recipient of its services any amounts actually disbursed by it on behalf of the recipient;
52.3.2 where the clinic acts for the successful litigant in litigation it will be entitled to take cession from such litigant of any order for costs awarded in favour of the litigant and to recover those costs for its own account;
52.4 the services may be rendered only to persons who, in the opinion of the Council, would not otherwise be able to afford them, or, with the prior written approval of the Council, services rendered in the public interest; and the Council may from time to time issue guidelines for the assistance of clinics in determining to whom services may be rendered;
52.5 the clinic may not undertake work in connection with the administration or liquidation or distribution of the estate of any deceased or insolvent person, mentally ill person or any person under any other legal disability, or the judicial management or the liquidation of a company, nor in relation to the transfer or mortgaging of immovable property, nor in relation to the lodging or processing of claims under the Road Accident Fund Act, 1996, or any amendment thereof, or such other work as the Council may from time to time determine;
52.6 the name under which the clinic is to carry on its activities, and the letterheads and other stationery of the clinic, shall require the prior approval of the Council;
52.7 attorneys in the employ of the clinic may be remunerated only by way of salary payable by the clinic or by the organisation to which it is attached.
52.8 If an attorney in the full time employment of a law clinic wishes to engage a candidate attorney under articles of clerkship or contract of service he or she may do so only if:
52.8.1 the candidate attorney is to be under his or her direct personal supervision or under the direct personal supervision of another attorney who is a member of the professional staff of the clinic;
52.8.2 the clinic is open for business during normal business hours for not less than 11 months in any year;
52.8.3 the clinic has proper office systems with telephones, typing facilities, files and filing procedures, a diary system and at least elementary library facilities;
52.8.4 the clinic has a proper accounting system and accounting procedures;
52.8.5 the clinic handles a reasonably wide range of work to give the candidate attorney exposure to the kind of problems that a newly qualified attorney would expect to encounter and be able to handle competently during his or her first year of practice. The Council shall have the right to direct the clinic to require the candidate attorney to attend a training course approved by the Council in areas of practice which, in the opinion of the Council, are not adequately dealt with by the clinic;

provided that no such attorney shall engage more than three candidate attorneys.