The B-BBEE Legal Sector Code draft has been launched and aims to provide equal opportunities in the legal field and ensure the inclusion of more previously disadvantaged individuals in the R30bn sector.
The Legal Practice Council (the LPC), an industry professional statutory council, which is authorised to set the sector's norms and standards, said since the beginning of democracy in 1994, the SA legal profession has struggled to transform.
Speaking at the launch of the Draft Legal Sector Code for Public Consultation, the justice, and correctional services minister, Ronald Lamola, says South Africa's legal profession remains dominated by whites and calls on the private sector to help transform the sector. The Minister called on the private sector to join the government’s efforts of transforming the legal sector to usher in more black practitioners into the mainstream economy.
The draft code states that there were “not enough black-owned large legal firms in the country that can compete in size, scale and service offerings with the established white-controlled practices”. The new code seeks to create conducive conditions to ensure that historically disadvantaged legal practitioners are able to establish, manage, and develop sustainable practices.
The B-BBEE Legal Sector Code Draft Has Launched
The B-BBEE Legal Sector Code draft has been launched and aims to provide equal opportunities in the legal field and ensure the inclusion of more previously disadvantaged individuals in the R30bn sector.
The Legal Practice Council (the LPC), an industry professional statutory council, which is authorised to set the sector's norms and standards, said since the beginning of democracy in 1994, the SA legal profession has struggled to transform.
Speaking at the launch of the Draft Legal Sector Code for Public Consultation, the justice, and correctional services minister, Ronald Lamola, says South Africa's legal profession remains dominated by whites and calls on the private sector to help transform the sector. The Minister called on the private sector to join the government’s efforts of transforming the legal sector to usher in more black practitioners into the mainstream economy.
The draft code states that there were “not enough black-owned large legal firms in the country that can compete in size, scale and service offerings with the established white-controlled practices”. The new code seeks to create conducive conditions to ensure that historically disadvantaged legal practitioners are able to establish, manage, and develop sustainable practices. Legal Sector Code - Draft Lamola said that while the Office of the State Attorney played its part ensuring legal work coming from various government departments was shared across “a very wide spectrum of practitioners”, this obligation should not be the government’s alone.
“Having said that, it is evident that these interventions from the Office of the State Attorney will not be enough. This is because state legal work is only a small fraction of the pie; the private sector holds the rest of the pie,” said Lamola.
“Therefore, this draft legal code that we are presenting... seeks to bring the private sector to the table. We must ensure that the procurement of legal services is done in accordance with a system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, and cost-effective.”
Lamola said: “The Legal Sector Code should ensure participation of black and female practitioners in the mainstream of the economy, competition law, telecommunications, mining, etc. And “Training and skills transfer should be at the core of the transformation project.”
The minister expressed his disappointment of the fact that our nation was good at devising “transformatory tools and fail to implement them”, saying: “A code, charter or any policy for that matter is in itself meaningless unless it is implemented.”
The Legal Practice Council seeks comment on the Draft Code until 15 December 2020.
(Source Article: BBBEE Wise Advisory Services: "The B-BBEE Legal Sector Code Draft Has Launched Newsletter")