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Cape Town - All lawyers and advocates are set
to have the fees they charge capped and will be required to do a prescribed amount of compulsory community
service for free, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff
Radebe announced on Wednesday.
Cabinet has
approved the Legal Practice Bill, which introduces reforms aimed at increasing access
to justice.
Speaking to
journalists ahead of his Budget vote speech in
parliament, Radebe said in terms of the bill legal practitioners – newly-qualified as
well as experienced - will be required to
"render legal services for a prescribed period of time on a pro bono basis
for the benefit of the indigent".
The bill
will create the South African Legal Practice Council, which will replace the
existing law society and general council of the bar. This council will
prescribe a fee framework within which legal
practitioners will be allowed to charge for their
services.
While
Radebe will specify how much community service is required by each individual
when he writes regulations for the bill, the chief
director in the department of justice and constitutional development, Jacob
Skosana, said that fee parameters would be decided on by the legal
practitioners themselves.
"The
fee structure in the legal profession is cumbersome and complex at the moment.
The aim is to standardise and regulate," he said,
adding that it would be much like prescribed medical aid rates.
While the
department is still unclear how much leeway legal practitioners will have when
it comes to exceeding the prescribed framework, the bill states that these fees may not
exceed "normal fees by more than 100%". And so-called success fees,
where the practitioner is paid based on the outcome of the case, may not exceed
25% of the total amount awarded to the client
as a result of the lawsuit.
The bill also
aims to change the way attorneys and advocates
do vocational training after completing their studies. At
present, attorneys do articles for two years with a law firm while advocates do a 12-month
pupilage. The bill aims for all post-graduate
law students to go through the same,
standardised period of vocational training, regardless of whether they want to
end up as attorneys or advocates.
Skosana
said that those who want to become advocates or specialise in another area of
law would then do so after the standard
vocational training period.
- Fin24.com
