Attorneys Act, 1979 (Act No. 53 of 1979)Chapter I : Practitioners: Qualifications, Admission and Removal from Roll10. Cession of articles or contract of service |
| (1) | Articles or a contract of service may with the consent of a principal and the candidate attorney concerned be ceded to any other principal willing to accept such cession. |
| (2) | The society concerned may in the event of the death, mental illness, insolvency, conviction for crime, suspension, striking off the roll or discontinuance of practice of the principal under whom a candidate attorney is serving or the debarring of such principal from engaging or continuing to engage a candidate attorney, or any other cause, direct that the articles or the contract of service concerned be ceded to any other principal willing to accept such cession, and all service completed under the ceded articles or the contract of service shall be effectual for the purposes of this Act. |
| (3) | Articles or a contract of service may be ceded under subsection (2) notwithstanding the fact that the principal who accepts the cession will, as a result of that acceptance, have more than three candidate attorneys in his or her employment. |
| (4) | An agreement whereby articles or a contract of service is ceded shall within two months of the date on which the services of the candidate attorney concerned have been terminated with the cedent, or within such further period as the court may for good cause allow, be lodged with the society having jurisdiction in the area where service under the said articles or the said contract of service so ceded is to be performed, by the cessionary together with the affidavits— |
| (a) | by the cedent stating whether the provisions of this Act relating to service under articles of clerkship or a contract of service have been complied with during the whole term of service during which the candidate attorney concerned was in his or her service and the date on which the candidate attorney terminated his or her services with him or her; and |
| (b) | by the cessionary stating the date on which the said candidate attorney assumed duty with him or her. |
[Section 10(4)amended by section 9 of Act No. 40 of 2014]
| (5) | The secretary of the law society referred to in subsection (4) shall on payment of such fee as is prescribed under section 80 — |
| (a) | examine the agreement and affidavits referred to in that subsection; and |
| (b) | if he or she is satisfied that the cession is in order and that the council of the society has no objection, register the cession, |
and shall advise the attorney and the candidate attorney concerned of such registration in writing by registered post.
| (6) | If articles or a contract of service is ceded in terms of subsection (2), the agreement whereby the articles or the contract of service is ceded shall be signed by the legal representative of the attorney concerned or the president or secretary of the society concerned as cedent, and a certificate of such legal representative, president or secretary containing the particulars referred to in subsection (4)(a), shall serve as a substitute for the affidavit referred to in subsection (4)(a). |
[Section 10 amended by section 11 of Act No. 104 of 1996]