De Rebus - Volume 2013, Issue 531, June 2013

This month's De Rebus is dedicated to the 18th Commonwealth Law Conference (CLC), which took place in Cape Town from 14 to 18 April under the theme 'Common challenges - common solutions: Commonwealth, commerce and ubuntu'.

Appoint judges on merit - Vuyo Tshiki

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Legal Practice Bill hearings - the Attorneys Fidelity Fund - Andries Landman

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Senior counsel status discriminates - Emraan Vawda

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Regulate CA employment - Busani Lemuel Baloyi

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Balancing act between CAs and principals - DJ Schoeman

In April Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng gave the 2013 Annual Human Rights Lecture at the University of Stellenbosch's law faculty. He spoke on 'the implications of the Office of the Chief Justice for constitutional democracy in South Africa'.

Professor Ann Skelton, the director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria, has recently been appointed as the incumbent of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Chair in Education Law in Africa.

On 25 April the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) hosted an event honouring mentors in law firm development in Johannesburg.

In March the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development released its strategic plan for the next five years, from 2013 to 2018. The plan highlights the department's priorities for the short, medium and long term, as well as some of the challenges it faces.

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) last month made further submissions on the Legal Practice Bill (B20 of 2012) to the Justice Portfolio Committee.

Johannesburg attorney and Black Lawyers Association (BLA) Vice-president Kathleen Matolo-Dlepu and Harrismith attorney David Bekker were elected co-chairpersons of the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) at the LSSA's annual general meeting in Cape Town in mid-April.

Earlier this year the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) commented to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on the draft rules to be promulgated under s 103 of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011.

People and practices

This month De Rebus news editor Nomfundo Manyathi-Jele spoke to the chairperson of the Pretoria Attorneys Association (PAA), Dawie Beyers, about the association.

The 18th Commonwealth Law Conference, which took place in South Africa for the first time from 14 to 18 April, brought over 900 Chief Justices, judges, lawyers, legal academics and others in legal-related fields to Cape Town to focus on current trends under the theme 'Common challenges - common solutions: Commonwealth, commerce and ubuntu'.

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De Rebus editor Kim Hawkey and deputy editor Mapula Sedutla prepared this report on the conference. International keynote speakers opened the conference each day, followed by a total of 48 panel sessions (with over 175 speakers) divided into four streams, namely:

• Corporate and commercial law.
• Legal and judicial profession.
• Constitutionalism, human rights and the rule of law.
• Contemporary legal topics.

For more information, see the conference website www.commonwealthlaw2013.org/

Under the topic of corporate and commercial law, a session was held to consider whether special commercial courts were a good or a bad idea.

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The chairperson of the session was Nigerian Bar Association council member, Miannaya Essien SAN; while the speakers were Engish solicitor, David Greene; President of the Ghana Bar Association, Nene Amegatcher; and British Virgin Islands Attorney-General, Dr Christopher Malcolm.

In a session chaired by South African attorney Max Boqwana, the chairperson of the United Kingdom (UK) Bar Standards Board, Baroness Ruth Deech; South African advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC; and Canadian general counsel Malcolm Mercer spoke on the regulation of the legal profession.

In a session chaired by Dr Sam Amadi, the chair of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission; former South African Constitutional Court Justice Kate O'Regan, Indian advocate Jaideep Gupta QC and Law Society of Zimbabwe President Lloyd Mhishi spoke on the challenges of modern constitutions.

Media freedom and access to information were discussed in a session titled 'Information, secrecy and WikiLeaks'.

April 2013 (2) The South African Law Reports (pp 325 - 642); [2013] 1 The All South African Law Reports March no 1 (pp 511 - 631) and no 2 (pp 633 - 713)

Legislation published during the period 18 March 2013 - 19 April 2013.

Retrenchments

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Union's liability to members for negligence

Recent articles and research