Africa-Press – South-Africa. While there may be challenges when paving a career path in the legal space, it is not impossible to succeed in the ever-increasingly competitive industry.
This is according to Kgomotso Tejane, resident of the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) student chapter, who believes aspirant students and recent graduates need to understand the pros and cons of deciding to be legal practitioners. This is on the back of a post on the social media platform TikTok in which a recent graduate, who apparently spent a year without securing a job, posted a video depicting her burning her Unisa LLB certificate. The user has since changed her account to private.
Tejane condemned the burning of a degree. He said the association believes it seeks to paint a misleading image of the legal profession.
The burning of the certificate has led to many asking if Unisa replaces damaged and lost certificates.
Unisa’s senior media officer, Tommy Huma, said the university does not issue duplicate certificates when the original is lost. “We only issue a statement of the academic record,” he said.
He said to get the academic record, one needs to provide a letter stating what happened to the previous certificate, a student number, address, contact number, name of the qualification and the year in which it was obtained.
He said the graduate will also need to provide a certified copy of an ID document and a police affidavit.
Tejane said the BLA has noted some of the challenges and are engaging with relevant stakeholders to find solutions in the profession.
“We need to remember the legal space is competitive. There are many law students and graduates. It is unfortunate we don’t have enough resources and law firms to handle the masses entering the workplace.”
Tejane said there was a need to understand most companies would prefer to hire graduates who excel academically. He said the traditional route was overwhelmingly becoming more crowded and increasingly reduced the chances of securing pupillage and articles of clerkship.
He said graduates and students should join associations such as BLA, South African Women Lawyers Association) and other institutions that can help them establish a network of contact and formulate relationships with professional legal practitioners.
“We have noted such but are yet to engage with relevant stakeholders to determine how we can best assist. “The problem is not about securing articles. It is also a problem that you have to go to law school and do your practical learning training (PLT),” he said
Tejane said graduates who registered for PLT were paying at least R19,100, which most graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds couldn’t afford after graduating.
“It is one of the challenges people should be aware of when they choose law as a career path.
“When you are doing PLT they train you to learn what they are doing in a legal space.”
He said law firms have opted to hire graduates who have gone through PLT and are more familiar with the legal fraternity than a graduate.
“I call it a barrier. It means if you cannot afford that law school, you cannot progress to getting articles of clerkship because that is what law firms are looking for.”
He said a law degree is flexible and there are more things a graduate can do with a degree rather than the traditional route of being an attorney or advocate. “One can be a master of the high court, legal advisor or compliance officer. People shouldn’t focus on the traditional career paths but should do research about the degree.”
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