Young lawyers have apples in their eyes

Three South African lawyers intend getting their teeth into the big apple after winning prestigious fellowships to work for major commercial law firms in New York for a year.

Zanele Moloi, Nd umiso Dyantyi and Amit Parekh were selected after impressing a panel of eight legal practitioners.

The annual Visiting Lawyer Programme is a joint initiative of the Law Society of South Africa and the Cyrus R Vance Centre for International Justice at the New York City Bar.

Since the programme's inception in 2001, 37 corporate lawyers from disadvantaged or formerly disadvantaged backgrounds have worked for a year each in the city.

Moloi, 27, is a project finance attorney at Bowman Gilfillan. She said she was over the moon at winning the award - but that it had been a hard road.

Her father died in her matric year, and although she won a partial bursary to study law at the University of the Witwatersrand, she had spent her holidays working as a cashier at Edgars to support herself.

Moloi is finishing her dissertation for her master's degree.

The young lawyer said of her trip: "It will be my first time leaving the country and I am very excited about the skills I am going to acquire.

"When I get there, I want to learn as much as possible and come back to the country as a skilled project finance attorney."

She is due to join Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, a global corporate law firm, in December.

Dyantyi, 27, a commercial attorney, completed his articles at Webber Wentzel and is now working for Lowndes Dlamini, a litigation and commercial law firm based in Sandton, Johannesburg.

He was born in Cofimvaba, outside Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, and said that whenever he visited his home town, he found locals waiting to talk to him about their cases.

"They all think that I am this big-shot lawyer, so I try to help wherever I can," Dyantyi said.

After matric he won a bursary from the Attorney Fidelity Forum to study at the University of the Western Cape - but had to work as a petrol pump attendant to raise money to pay his registration fees.

"I applied [for the fellowship] because I have experience in commercial law and I wanted to enhance my skills," said Dyantyi , who is studying for a post-graduate certificate in advanced company law.

"To me this programme shows that anything under the sun is possible," Dyantyi said.

"I think it is a motivation for others that they can also do it.

"If time is on my side I am also hoping to get admitted to the New York Bar. It's always good to have that sort of qualification."

Parekh, meanwhile, is preparing for a stint at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

The 26-year-old, who obtained 27 distinctions during his law studies, specialises in general commercial and corporate tax matters at Bowman Gilfillan and also lectures final-year Wits students in human-rights law and legal philosophy.

Candidates for the fellowship need to prove they are committed to community upliftment. Dyantyi , for example, sponsors a pupil from Cofimvaba, and has done some pro bono work.

Moloi has helped start-up companies in Soweto to get their businesses going. She said there was a shortage of project finance attorneys, and she wanted to "try to empower other people to get into the field because there really are not enough women in the field".