BARNEWS

April�007 ADVOCATE 1�

Free State

Contributed by Henriette Murray and Zachia Eloff

The Free State legal fraternity expe-rienced the staggering effect of global warming on various levels

during the past months. Not only has it been one of the most sweltering of sum-mers in court rooms but miscellaneous contentious judicial issues have sparked fierce controversy in the media.

Reliable sources indicate that the aver-age daily temperatures in the summer of 2006-07 exceeded previous records by approximately 0,45° Celcius worldwide. This natural phenomenon and the lack of ventilation in both the high and mag-istates’ courts in Bloemfontein, coupled with Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla’s pronouncement regarding acting appoint-ments, have given new meaning to the terms ‘hot seat’ and ‘airing disputes’.

In keeping with the cyclical nature of things, this contribution commences with milder news from the Free State Bar. While Pieter Venter, Suzanne Boonzaaier and Jackie Steytler successfully com-pleted their pupillage at the end of 2006, six pupils have enrolled for the 2007 pupillage programme, namely Luzelle Adams, Izette Knoetze, Jason Johnson, Abé Madolo, Christoff Coetzer and Jan-Hertzog Els. Their diverse professional backgrounds should add a new dimension to the Society. We wish them all the best.

‘Airing a dispute’ in the Free State Province has definitely acquired an enhanced meaning, with the malfunc-tioning of cooling systems in several court rooms.

The magistrates’ court has become the epitome of transparency, with grotesque aluminium air conditioning intestines protruding from the exposed innards of the roofing. Alas, in almost a year this monster has not been able to gather enough breath to take on the task of cooling.

In the High Court, a similar breathtaking lack of air afflicted the motion court on Thursdays. Judges and legal practitioners alike literally found themselves having to choose between the least of three evils: A neighbouring construction site and the replacement of a roof narrowed the choices to dust, noise or secondary heat

exhaustion. The end result, however, has proved to be worthwhile. The building now boasts a brand new roof, and yawn-ing in court is no longer regarded as acceptable with the ventilation system up and running again.

Judges Musi (Sr), Hancke and Rampai have exchanged their usual ‘hot seats’ on the Bench for even hotterseatsthis term. The former two have been appointed to act in the Supreme Court of Appeal, while Rampai J has been appointed to act in the Labour Court in Johannesburg.

The acting appointments referred to above initiated events with rocketing effects, with Justice Minister Brigitte

TheFreeStateHighCourtwithits‘transformed’garden.

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‘...Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla’s

pronouncement regarding acting appointments,

have given new meaning to the terms “hot seat” and “airing disputes”.’

BARNEWS

1� ADVOCATE    April�007

On pupillage

Contributed by Dusty Donnelly, KwaZulu-Natal

When I was asked to write a piece for Advocate on my impressions of the Bar as a

pupil and a ‘Baby Junior’, I felt like a hapless explorer being invited to inspect the inside of the cannibal tribe’s cook-ing pot – little good was likely to come of it, at least not for me. The request seemed akin to the ‘pass-on’ brief: one couldn’t very well refuse it, unless other-wise engaged. Nevertheless it was to be viewed with a healthy measure of suspi-cion. After all the most dangerous words in the ‘Baby Junior’s’ lexicon arguably are: ‘Don’t worry – it only needs to be adjourned sinedie.’ I determined that the wisest choice I could make was to write a piece so bland, that no one would pay it the slightest attention. If you are still reading, then clearly I have failed.

I joined the Bar in April, and was greeted warmly by a throng of fellow pupils already immersed in The Workbook and The Lectures. It sounded ominous. My foreboding only grew when after two or three weeks at the Bar, pupillage still felt like a glorious vacation. Perhaps it was simply the jovial atmosphere on the thirteenth floor of Durban Club Place. The bubble was finally to burst in the wee hours during the weeks preceding The Bar Examination. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Do not imagine that pupillage is a walk in the park. ‘Learn by doing’ was Marnewick SC’s mantra. The new year-long program certainly offers structure and focus to one’s training. There should never really be an idle moment.

However, after the tyranny of telephones, taxations and timesheets which one encounters as an attorney, the freedom (of thought, of movement and of lunch partners) is heady. Needless to say one of my first experiences was of ‘crossing the fence’. About a week into pupillage, I sheepishly caught myself exclaiming indignantly at the utter incompetence of some unfortunate attorney, whose tatty and incomplete brief had just landed on my mentor’s table.

Besides failing, the ever-present dan-ger in every pupil’s life is the fauxpas. Forget the Uniform Rules, it is the unwritten traditions that you had better set about learning, and smartly. Had our mentors truly forgotten to tell us that the common room was off-limits to pupils? Were stripes on our suits out or OK?

‘The lecture format does not provide sufficient practical engagement

with the subject matter.’

Did the rule of meeting the silks in order of seniority still apply now that there were four buildings to cover? And, would we ever feel comfortable with the first name or surname rule? (This par-ticular horror being felt most keenly by those who did not spend their formative years at a boys’ only private school.)

The next task of the pupil is to put names to faces, and then not to mix them up again. It was a welcome surprise to dis-cover that the Bar seems to house a dis-proportionately high number of ‘unusual’ names and surnames. I was beginning to feel right at home.

Debates were popular amongst the pupils, our favourite topics being the Zuma trials

and the year-long pupillage. It was with-out doubt a financially trying time for us all. It came as some surprise therefore to discover that as far back as 1929 at the Temple Bar ‘the first year of a young Barrister’s life is invariably spent in apprenticeship to some busy junior, who for a fee of one hundred guineas allows his pupil to see his papers and follow him about from court to court’ (Marjoribanks The Life of Sir Edward Marshall Hall 32). Well, I thought, at least we had been spared the 100 guineas!

There is room for improvement. The strict program rankles with those who need less coaching. Yet there is insuf-ficient small group ‘tutorial’ style teach-ing and remedial work for those who require greater assistance. The lecture format does not provide sufficient practi-cal engagement with the subject matter. There are not enough opportunities to learn and practise the speaking skills (both ‘prepared’ and ‘on one’s feet’), which we need to survive.

In an ideal world our mentors would have no pressing needs of their own and would gain immense personal satisfac-tion from spending every minute answer-ing our questions. In reality, their great-est satisfaction is probably the perverse pleasure of knowing that one day we too might have a pupil. And the occasional thank-you.

So how to remedy the lack of practical experience? ‘Go to motion court, watch what advocates do wrong and what indi-vidual judges dislike’ was the sage advice of Broster SC. It was to prove extremely useful. The premise being that there cannot be any substitute for learning by making mistakes, but hopefully they are mostly somebody else’s!

Mabandla’s moratorium on the appoint-ment of suitably experienced white males from the Free State Bar. What is prob-ably most alarming, is the ever-pres-ent involvement of politicians in the matter, with weeks of polemic ensuing between parties’ spokespersons regard-ing the sourcing of black and female candidates for acting positions, where there are purportedly few such available in the Free State. For instance, on its 93rd anniversary celebrations, the ANC national executive entered the arena with

the comment that ‘there is a challenge to transform the ‘collective mindset’ of the judiciary to bring it into line with the aspirations of ‘the millions who engaged in struggle to liberate our country from white minority domination’ (Mail & Guardian, 8/2/2007).

Suffice it to say that no acting appoint-ments were made for the first term, which, by implication, has dire conse-quences for the speed and efficacy of lit-igation and prosecution in the Free State Provincial Division. The Free State Bar

Council has recommended arbitration as a speedy (though costly) method of alternative resolution for civil disputes. As far as criminal prosecution is con-cerned, it is expected that 25% of all matters will have to be postponed.

Off the hot seat to greener pastures – the High Court’s garden has been transformed into an oasis in the blast-ing heat. Although a tea garden would certainly have added to the allure of the old sandstone building, for now the feast is only for the eye.

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