Law

Marinus Wiechers

Talk with most people and they think that law only entails a well-spoken advocate’s dramatic defence of a poor accused, as seen on TV or read about in sensation articles. These types of cases, the criminal cases, only form a small part of the total judicature. The area of jurisprudence stretches a lot wider, from private cases like marriages, contracts, wills and testation and much more, to public affairs such as constitutional issues, protection of human rights, transfer of property and other legal and administrative actions of the government. Add to that a huge amount of specialised areas such as company cases, the workings of banks and insurance companies as well as wage and labour arrangements, patents and trademarks. Jurists must also know how criminal and civil cases (cases between parties where the government and official institutions are not involved) should be tried in court. For this they need knowledge of formal law, which means criminal procedure, civil procedure and furnishing of proof.

The law in South Africa

You can easily say today that every single aspect of a person’s existence and activities is regulated by the law. It is quite understandable since our whole political system is founded in our Constitution and general rule of law. South Africa is therefore called a law state.

Characteristic of a law state is the extensive network of rules and instructions which determine all our relationships with other people as well as our relationships with the government and its officials. Conversely the government is also controlled by the law. Therefore the government and its officials may not act at will. They are also tied to certain set rules of law. With the application of rules of law with regard to the equalising of different interests and the judging of all kinds of human relationships, it is understandable that many disputes and uncertainties will arise. It is therefore the task of the jurist to solve such disputes and uncertainties either through deliberation and settlements or in court.

The South African legal system has a long history. Although today our law is mainly found in laws (of which the Constitution is the most important), ordinances and thousands of regulations, there is also a large part known as common law. This part of our law originates from the earliest prehistory of the Roman and Dutch legal systems. The English law has also influenced our common law. Because indigenous law – the traditional law of tribes – must also be acknowledged and applied as long as it doesn’t clash with the Constitution and laws, this law must also be studied.

Personality and characteristics of a jurist

To be a good and successful jurist requires a number of abilities, for example the ability to work very hard and be honest and virtuous, the ability to think perspicaciously, quickly and analytically, to have a sharpened memory and to be able to quickly separate the wheat from the chaff. Natural intelligence will also help a lot.

It is often thought that jurists should have the gift of the gab and nobody will deny that good debating and reciting abilities are an asset. There is however not a stereotype jurist. Because the law has so many facets, there is room for the most variegated personalities, from a gentle introvert who doesn’t like the pressure of court work and prefer commercial negotiations or administrating estates, to the extrovert who wants to show his or her spectacular personality in court and public proceedings.

There are two characteristics that successful jurists should have. If they don’t yet have these characteristics, it must be learnt and developed. The first characteristic is language and writing skills. Nearly all court proceedings are done in writing, in the form of pleas, arguments, sentences, applications, rendering of testimonies, opinions, contracts, will, acts, motions, appeals, discussions and articles. And I’m not even talking about the huge amount of correspondence with clients, government departments, legal officials and opponents during cases. People who struggle to express themselves clearly and correctly in word and in writing, will struggle as jurists and their practices will suffer, because poor use of words and clumsy, inaccurate phrases in contracts and wills often become disputed points in drawn-out court proceedings.

A knowledge and understanding of one or more of the other official languages are a further bonus, because these languages are often used by witnesses and have to be translated by interpreters into Afrikaans or English. The jurist who also understands these languages, will know immediately if the interpreter has relayed the correct meaning. For jurists who later want to specialise in the comparative law or international law, knowledge of other main languages of the world, besides English, will be a further plus point.

Because legal work consists of a lot of paperwork, language and writing skills must be further supported by the ability to read quickly and accurately. A jurist who reads with his or her finger, mumbling and slowly, will never be able to get through his or her work.

The second important characteristic of a successful jurist is a good general knowledge and understanding of national affairs, the economy, agriculture or any other aspect of society. Probably even more important is a good knowledge of human nature, in order to understand why people do what they do, why people take on enterprises, why some people break the rules of law, why some people cheat and slander others, why some people lie. A good dose of curiosity in order to understand people and judge their actions will therefore prevent legal work from becoming a never-ending drag. Someone who constantly spends his or her life as jurist in isolation with laws and paperwork will later become very frustrated. Even the conveyancer who doesn’t like fighting in court, must understand why people enter into contracts to obtain or sell property. Unfortunately it is true that legal work often consists of the solving of people’s problems and disputes. Therefore a jurist should know how to handle conflict as well as his or her own stress levels.

Career opportunities

Because the law controls so many terrains of life and human activities, the career opportunities for a jurist are nearly unlimited.

Judges, magistrates, prosecutors, advocates and lawyers are probably the first group of trained jurists which come to mind when thinking about a career in law. These trained people all form part of the formal law profession. There are, however, numerous other career opportunities, like becoming a lecturer at a university or college, a member of a management team or legal adviser of a bank, financial institution or company, or a legal expert, legal draftsman or expert on international treaties, which all have possibilities of careers in public administration. Today everywhere in education, the financial world and in the widespread government it is indispensable to have people with legal expertise. Even for somebody who one day wants to become involved in politics, legal expertise will definitely be an asset, because the government in all its forms is concerned with the making, issuing and application of the law. Of course active politics is mainly concerned with the drafting, propagating and following out of politic policies, but the following out and applying of political policy must still be allowed by the law.

Legal qualifications provide an enormous amount of career opportunities. It is therefore understandable that during the course of their legal training universities also provide for different opportunities of specialisation. Besides certain compulsory, basic subjects in the Private and Public Law, for example Law of Persons and Family Law, Law of Contracts and Law of Delict in the Private Law and Constitutional Law and International Law and Administrative Law in the Public Law, they offer a number of choices in specialisation areas, for example Insurance Law, Bank Law and Labour Law. Naturally it can’t be expected of beginner students to know from the start in which area they want to specialise. It is, however, important to find out which speciality courses are offered at the different universities, since this knowledge can be important in deciding which university to choose for legal training.

Practical advice

What is good practical advice for someone considering choosing law as a career?

Firstly you must ensure that your language and word skills are strengthened and expanded. Read, write, compose and talk in public, in debates and discourse of clubs, societies and meetings. Learn to compile minutes and reports. If you read slowly, you must learn to read expertly and quickly.

Secondly you must strengthen and expand your general knowledge. Be interested in national affairs, politics, the economy and all kinds of social issues. Talk as much as possible to people in legal occupations in order to hear about their experiences and opinions. That way you will expand your knowledge of human nature and deal with people. Try to attend court sittings. Ask advocates and lawyers to explain what is happening in court, since when first experiencing a court sitting with all the formalities and procedures, it can be quite unintelligible. Be careful when somebody tries to convince you that law is actually a job for men. Long ago people used to think that. Nowadays everybody will agree that there are many very successful women in all the different legal professions.