Black lawyers are finding it hard to survive in the profession, the president of the Cape Law Society, Sithembele Mgxaji, said on Friday.
”Regrettably, members of our profession leave in droves on account of the survival challenges; in particular, black legal practitioners,” he said in a report to the society’s annual general meeting in Port Elizabeth.
He urged government departments, parastatals and the private sector to ”ensure accessibility” in order to sustain an independent attorneys’ profession.
Society director Nalini Gangen said black lawyers generally practise in ”small, one-man practices close to their communities”.
After 1994, there had been a general expectation that opportunities would open up for them.
However, other people such as debt collectors have taken traditional areas of civil work from these lawyers, while the state’s justice centres have taken the criminal cases on which they relied.
”So, for the traditional general practitioner with a small practice, it has become absolutely difficult. They are unable to survive; they can’t generate sufficient income,” she said.
A reflection of this is the dwindling number of new entrants to study law.
She said two-thirds of the society’s 4 400 members are one- or two-person practices.
The society’s strategic planning committee is looking at ways to ”lessen the gap” between large and small firms. — Sapa