Durban - Echoing the concerns of law academics and professionals, KwaZulu-Natal Judge Achmat Jappie has confirmed that many graduates of the condensed four-year Bachelor of Laws (LLB) are out of their depth.
Judge Jappie, acting judge president in the absence of Judge Chiman Patel, said the judiciary was well aware of concerns about law graduates.
He was responding to a survey of 500 attorneys by finance company PPS and released earlier this month in which only 31 percent of respondents believed the LLB-equipped graduates would make it in the profession.
“The main problem is communication skills. People can’t get across what they want to say, and don’t seem to understand basic court procedure. And, when it comes to trial work, they battle with understanding questions of onus and putting forward a coherent argument,” the judge explained.
He said he did not believe one could be critical of the motive for reducing the length of the LLB from five to four years (in 1998) but felt that decision was now hampering graduates.
“There is a need to get disadvantaged people through university. It’s expensive. But you’re not assisting in the long run. They might at the end of four years have an LLB but the question really is: Are they equipped to get into the profession?”
Professor Vivienne Lawack-Davids, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s dean of law and chairwoman of the SA Law Deans’ association, speaking in her personal capacity, said the consequences were the exclusion of modules which helped with skills such as reading, writing, comprehension and critical thinking.
Judge Jappie said it was “optimistic” to believe matriculants, already ill-prepared for university, could be sufficiently equipped to enter the legal profession within four years.
While he would support the reintroduction of a five-year LLB, he would like to see it offered at postgraduate level. He suggested students first earn a Bachelor’s degree in the arts or economics.
“I don’t think anybody can practise law without having at least a first-year university course in one of the languages that is used in court. That is to say, some grounding in English – to speak it properly, to read it properly and to write it properly. Law is all about language,” the judge said.
“The people who bear the brunt of what goes wrong are the poor paying public. That is what bothers me.” - The Mercury