Minimum wage on cards for candidate attorneys, but will it shrink access to firms?

Desperate candidate attorneys will no longer have to work for free to become lawyers and can earn a minimum remuneration should an amendment of the Legal Practice Act be signed in.

The Legal Practice Council (LPC) has proposed an amendment of the act on minimum remunerations for candidate attorneys and pupils, which is open for public comment until September 11. 

Should the amendment be introduced, this would mean a candidate attorney in an urban area would have to earn a minimum of R8,000 a month, while those in rural areas earn a minimum of R6,000.

Pupils who are supervised by an advocate would also be remunerated R8,000 and advocates would be levied to establish a fund to remunerate those who want to become advocates.

Some candidate attorneys and pupils work for free to get their articles and to complete their vocational training.

Llewellyn Curlewis, a member of the LPC and senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria, said graduates are desperate as there are too many potential candidate attorneys provided by universities.

Those not placed by the university can sit without a job, he said.

“They struggle to get training which is a precondition before being sworn in. Since they are desperate, their negotiation powers between themselves and their supervisors are not balanced.”

A survey conducted by the LPC found that candidate attorneys are mostly paid between R6,000 and R12,000 per month. However, 36.75% of the surveyed attorneys indicated they pay their candidate attorneys R6,000 or less a month.

Twelve percent of attorneys said they did not pay their candidate attorneys.

While the proposal could bring relief for candidate attorneys, there is a risk it may shrink the legal fraternity as some attorneys would not be able to afford such a payment, said Curlewis.

In the survey, 65.8% of respondent attorneys agreed that if the minimum wage was set, it would result in law firms employing fewer candidate attorneys.

The Legal Society of South Africa, which welcomes the regulations, has voiced concern on how it could affect access into the legal fraternity.

“We are concerned that some practitioners, particularly sole and rural-based practitioners, might not take on candidates, as they may not be able to afford to pay them,” the society said.

The act does not impose an obligation for a minimum wage by advocates to their pupils, but rather that advocates be levied per month or per year in order to establish a fund to pay pupils.

The amendment suggests the senior council pay a once-off levy of R8,400 per year or R700 per month.

Junior counsel with 10 years standing or more will be levied a once-off R4,800 per year or R400 per month.

This would then mean a pupil could earn R8,000 a month.

Curlewis said he is unsure if advocates would accept having to pay a levy.

“I don’t think any practitioner out there would really accept this. Maybe a small percentage of them would, but they might be forced to pay that minimum wage,” he said.

TimesLIVE