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EDITOR’S NOTE
Public vs attorneys
and law societies
Mapula Thebe – Editor
I
n the past few months the legal
profession and the way it functions has been in the spotlight
and under scrutiny with extensive coverage on mainstream
media and social media platforms.
A number of recent cases show
that members of the public are not
afraid to take attorneys to task and
ensure that provincial law societies
fulfil their mandate of regulating
the profession.
In Bitter N.O. v Ronald Bobroff &
Partners Inc and Another (GJ) (unreported case no 11069/13, 294-2014) the applicant (Anthony)
sought relief against Ronald Bobroff
& Partners (RBP) based on the Ronald Bobroff & Partners Inc v De La
Guerre; South African Association
of Personal Injury Lawyers v Minister of Justice and Constitutional
Development (CC) (unreported case
no CCT 122/13, CCT 123/13 202-2014) (Moseneke ACJ, Skweyiya
ADCJ, Cameron J, Dambuza AJ,
Froneman J, Jafta J, Madlanga J,
Van der Westhuizen J and Zondo
J) judgment (see 2014 (May) DR
52). Anthony requested that RBP,
within 30 days of the order of the
court, delivers an itemised and detailed bill of costs. Anthony also
requested that RBP pay his attorney in trust an amount of R 2 101
871,80, retained by RBP, as attorney and own client costs, during a
case between himself and the Road
Accident Fund as well as the accumulative interest. The court granted the relief sought.
The Bitter case clearly indicates
that the public will not shy away
from questioning the amount
attorneys charge and can
request that a clear and
itemised bill of cost be
delivered to them.
In another case,
Graham and Others
v Law Society of the
Northern Provinces
and Others (GP) (unreported case no
61790/2012,
15-42014) (Mothle J), the applicants
(Jennifer and Matthew Graham)
lodged a complaint of overcharging
with the Law Society of the Northern Province (LSNP) against RBP.
The Grahams were also dissatisfied
with the manner in which they allege the LSNP dealt with their complaint against RBP and brought an
application seeking that the High
Court should take over the LSNP’s
disciplinary inquiry or allow it to
continue under the court’s supervision.
Although the request to have
the disciplinary inquiry under the
court’s supervision was not granted, the Grahams were able to ensure that the disciplinary inquiry
started as the court ordered that
it take place within 60 days of the
judgment.
Internal matters
The Law Society of South Africa
(LSSA), the De Rebus team and the
attorneys’ profession would like to
thank Sithembele Mgxaji for serving as a member of the De Rebus
Editorial Committee. Mr Mgxaji
served on the committee from February 2006 until May 2014; he also
served as the committee’s chairperson during the 2011/2012 period.
His insights and guidance, spanning over eight years, has helped
produce a journal that is topical
and of interest to the attorneys’
profession. Mr Mgxaji who was the
Black Lawyers Association (BLA)
representative on the committee
will be replaced by Lutendo Sigogo
who is also from the BLA.
DE REBUS – JUNE 2014
-3-
By the time you receive this copy;
I will be on four months maternity
leave and will return in September
in time to start working on the November issue. The De Rebus team
will be under the stewardship of
Barbara Whittle, the LSSA’s Communications Manager, who will be
acting as editor in my absence. The
team and the Editorial Committee
will continue to produce a journal
that the profession depends on.
Would you like to
write for De Rebus?
De Rebus welcomes article
contributions in all 11 official
languages, especially from
legal practitioners. Practitioners and others who wish to
submit feature articles, practice notes, case notes, opinion
pieces and letters can e-mail
their contributions to [email protected].
The decision on whether to
publish a particular submission is that of the De Rebus
Editorial Committee, whose
decision is final. In general,
contributions should be useful or of interest to practising
attorneys and must be original
and not published elsewhere.
For more information, see the
‘Guidelines for articles in De
Rebus’ on our website (www.
derebus.org.za).
• Please note that the word
limit is now 2000 words.
• Upcoming deadlines for article submissions: 17 June and
21 July 2014.

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