| (a) | In order to achieve its objects referred to in section 5, and, having due regard to the Constitution, applicable legislation and the inputs of the Ombud and Parliament, the Council may— |
| (i) | acquire or hire movable or immovable property; |
| (ii) | develop, hypothecate, let, sell or otherwise dispose of its movable or immovable property; |
| (iii) | make donations and grants in support of projects related to its objects; |
| (iv) | perform any act relating to its financial affairs as may be necessary; |
| (v) | institute or defend legal proceedings on behalf of the Council; |
| (vi) | impose monetary penalties; |
| (vii) | invest Council funds; |
| (viii) | borrow or raise money; |
| (ix) | insure against any risk; |
| (x) | delegate any of its powers and functions to its committees or Provincial Councils, subject to any conditions it may impose, which delegation does not— |
| (aa) | divest the Council of the power or function so delegated; and |
| (bb) | preclude the Council from varying or setting aside any decision made under a delegation; |
| (xi) | provide financial support to organisations or institutions providing legal education and training, including legal education and training for purposes of compulsory post-qualification professional development, with the object of enhancing the standards of legal services and increasing access to justice; |
| (xiii) | provide financial support to non-profit organisations and institutions promoting access to justice for poor people; |
[Section 6(1)(a)(xiii) substituted by section 2(a) of Act No. 16 of 2017]
| (xiv) | pay for services rendered at the request of the Council with the object of enhancing the professional standards of legal practitioners; and |
[Section 6(1)(a)(xiv) substituted by section 2(b) of Act No. 16 of 2017]
| (xv) | establish, promote, administer, assist in the establishment, the promotion, or the administration of— |
| (bb) | medical aid schemes or medical benefit schemes; |
| (cc) | pension funds, provident funds, pension schemes or benevolent schemes, |
for legal practitioners, former legal practitioners, for the employees of such legal practitioners, for the officials and employees of the Council and for the dependents of—
| (B) | former legal practitioners; |
| (C) | employees of legal practitioners; and |
(D) officials and employees of the Council;
[Section 6(1)(a)(xv) inserted by section 2(c) of Act No. 16 of 2017]
| (b) | In order to achieve its objects referred to in section 5, and having due regard to the Constitution, applicable legislation and the inputs of the Ombud and Parliament, the Council must— |
| (i) | develop norms and standards to guide the conduct of legal practitioners, candidate legal practitioners and the legal profession; |
| (ii) | advise the Minister with regard to matters concerning the legal profession and legal practice; |
| (iii) | do all things necessary for the proper and effective performance of its functions or the exercise of its powers; |
| (iv) | pay out of pocket expenses to Council members; and |
| (v) | develop programmes in order to empower historically disadvantaged legal practitioners, as well as candidate legal practitioners. |
| (2) | The Council, in order to perform its functions properly— |
| (a) | must employ an executive officer and such officials or staff as may be necessary to enable it to carry out its functions and determine the remuneration and other conditions of service of its officials and staff; |
| (b) | may establish, promote, arrange, administer or assist in the establishment, promotion, arrangement or administration of insurance, medical-aid, pension, provident or benevolent schemes for the benefit of its officials and staff and the dependants of such officials and staff; |
| (c) | may conclude agreements with any person or organisation for the performance of any particular act or particular work or the rendering of particular services for the purposes of furthering the objects of the Council; |
| (d) | may enter into contracts in connection with the performance of its functions or the exercise of its powers; |
| (e) | may pay an honorarium or an allowance to any person to cover expenses reasonably incurred by him or her in connection with any act performed at the request of the Council or in terms of its directions on behalf of or for the benefit of the Council and the furtherance of its objects; and |
| (f) | may publish or cause to be published periodicals, pamphlets and other printed material for the benefit of legal practitioners or the public. |
(3) The Council must, subject to this Act—
| (a) | enrol a duly admitted legal practitioner as such; and |
| (b) | keep a Roll of legal practitioners and decide on— |
| (i) | the form of the certificates and the Roll to be kept; |
| (ii) | the maintenance of the Roll or issuing of certificates; and |
| (iii) | the reviewing of the Roll and the manner in which alterations may be made to the Roll. |
| (4) | The Council must, in the rules, with regard to fees and charges which are payable to the Council, determine— |
| (a) | application fees as provided for in this Act; |
| (b) | annual fees, or portion thereof, in respect of a part of a year, payable to the Council by legal practitioners for Fidelity Fund certificates: Provided that any determination made in terms of this paragraph must be made in consultation with the Board; |
| (c) | annual fees payable by all legal practitioners who are admitted and enrolled in terms of section 24(1) as practising legal practitioners; |
| (d) | the date on which any fee is payable; |
| (e) | the fees, or portion thereof, payable in respect of any examination conducted by the Council or on behalf of the Council; and |
| (f) | any other fee or charge it considers necessary, as contemplated in this Act. |
| (5) | The Council, with regard to education in law and legal practice generally— |
| (a) | may, subject to sections 5 and 7 of the Higher Education Act, 1997 (Act No. 101 of 1997), conduct visits to any educational institution which has a department, school or faculty of law; |
| (b) | may advise the Council on Higher Education established in terms of the Higher Education Act, 1997, regarding matters relevant to education in law, including the desirability of including in the LLB curriculum a form of community service to be undertaken by all law students; |
| (c) | may consult with the South African Qualifications Authority established by the National Qualifications Framework Act, 2008 (Act No. 67 of 2008), or any structure established by it, to determine competency standards for the purposes of registration; |
| (d) | may conduct any examination for the purposes of practical vocational training; |
| (e) | may determine, after consultation with relevant role-players and legal practitioners in general, conditions relating to the nature and extent of continuing education and training, including compulsory post-qualification professional development; |
| (f) | must, in the prescribed manner, create a mechanism to— |
| (i) | provide appropriate legal education and training, having due regard to our inherited legacy and new constitutional dispensation; and |
| (ii) | offer legal education and training to aspiring and newly appointed legal practitioners, as well as continued training for experienced legal practitioners; |
| (g) | may accredit training institutions that offer— |
| (i) | practical vocational training courses which contribute towards the qualification of legal practitioners and candidate legal practitioners; and |
| (ii) | compulsory post-qualification professional development; |
| (h) | must report annually to the Minister on— |
| (i) | the number of new candidate legal practitioners registered as such in terms of section 27 and the number of new legal practitioners enrolled with the Council in terms of section 30; |
| (ii) | the effectiveness of the training requirements for entry into the profession; |
| (iii) | measures adopted to enhance entry into the profession, including the remuneration of candidate legal practitioners and continuing legal education to develop skills of legal practitioners; and |
| (iv) | progress made on the implementation of the programmes contemplated in subsection (1)(b)(v) to empower historically disadvantaged legal practitioners and candidate legal practitioners, |
and the Council may make recommendations to the Minister regarding legislative and other interventions to improve access to the profession and access to justice broadly and the Minister must thereupon table that report in Parliament; and
| (i) | must, at the request of the Minister, advise the Minister on multi-disciplinary legal practices which the Minister may consider for the purposes of developing policies and legislative and other interventions in respect of multi-disciplinary legal practices. |
