Die grondwetlike en transformatiewe hervorming van die regsprofessie ingevolge die Wet op Regspraktyk 28 van 2014

Abstract

The implementation of the Legal Practice Act will have a profound impact on legal practitioners and their practices. The Act provides for the establishment of an umbrella organization, the Legal Practice Council, and for the abolishment of the current regulatory bodies. It envisages a “hybrid” legal practitioner to compete directly with the current professional dispensation. The views expressed are that the fusion of the profession is not the objective of the Act, but I defer and submit that the initial debate on the fusion of the profession will proceed by way of jurisdiction. The fundamental objective of the Act is for transformation of the legal profession as a transformative imperative bestowed on government to enable access to justice for ordinary citizens. The question that arises is to what extent the legal profession and its customs and traditions should be sacrificed on the altar of this “forced” transformation. While the independence of the legal profession is paramount to the independence of the bench as the judicial arm of the trias politica principle entrenched in our Constitution, the segregation of powers seems to be blurred by the powers bestowed onto the Minister in terms of the Act.