Cape Town - The Legal Practice Council has welcomed the Constitutional Court’s confirmation that law graduates from independent institutes are eligible for enrolment as legal practitioners under the Legal Practice Act.
Council chairperson Kathleen
Matolo-Dlepu said the declaration paved the way for complying private institutions to contribute to the legal profession.
“We welcome the judgment of the Constitutional Court as it has been previously pointed out that we needed clarity on the matter to ensure that we comply with the Act. The judgment has paved the way for complying private institutions of higher learning to contribute to access to the legal profession,” Matolo-Dlepu said.
In February, the Pietermaritzburg High Court declared section 26(1)(a) of the Legal Practice Act constitutionally invalid as it only allowed LLB graduates from public universities to enter the profession.
The court also found that students studying towards the Independent
Institute of Education’s (IIE) LLB degree at Varsity College were qualified to
enter the legal profession after graduation.
The IIE’s LLB degree was accredited by the Council for Higher Education in 2017 and was offered for the first time last year.
At the time the high court made the findings, the IIE said over 400 law students were affected.
“The IIE was perplexed by a seeming conflict between the Higher Education Act, through which degrees at private higher education institutions are deemed equivalent to those from public universities, and the Act, that drew a distinction,” it had said.
IIE general manager Peter Kriel said in practice the Constitutional Court’s declaration meant the status of degrees obtained through registered and accredited private higher education institutions were the same as those obtained through public universities.
“We welcome the confirmation.”
@CapeTimesSA