“It has always been a tradition of the Bar for more senior members to have an open-door approach to our junior members,” says Advocates Group 21 Transformation chairperson Robbie Stockwell.
“Our group has taken this tradition a step further by introducing within our group of advocates, all with individual practices, a system in terms of which we are able to mentor our junior members, assist and further train them in creating advocates of a high calibre,” he explains.
Each member is allocated a dedicated mentor when joining the group. A junior member is not restricted to taking advice only from his mentor and may approach any other member, but there is a mutual responsibility created between the mentor and the junior member he or she has been appointed to assist.
“Aspects such as running a practice, accounting, identifying and dealing with pitfalls on ethical questions, are among the things this mentoring programme deals with,” explains advocate Shirnaé Londt-Jacobs, a junior member of Group 21.
Stockwell says the mentoring programme can only work if there are sufficient senior members in a group who are able and prepared to give the training and guidance the programme requires.
“Advocates Group 21’s mentorship programme is an adjunct to the one-year pupillage system offered by the Johannesburg Bar Council. Before joining, an aspirant member is required, as part of the one-year training, to attend lectures and practical training. The practical training is very helpful and has a critiquing element. The critiquing of a young advocate is rather tough on the aspirant advocate,” explains Stockwell.
“We have training sessions where a trainee is, for example, required to move a motion before a trainer. The trainer will comment on anything negative in the presentation of argument. Even if the presentation was good the trainee will not receive a pat on the back. It is tough on the youngsters, but it eventually makes better advocates.”
The mentoring programme builds on the training that its junior members undergo before joining the group. The mentoring process has the benefit of training young, inexperienced advocates further by involving them in lectures that address the practical issues counsel often has to deal with, and members are also offered advice from more experienced advocates at no extra cost.
The acceptance of new members is done by vote. Group 21 currently has 91 members.