| (a) | for his or her own account either alone or in partnership; or |
| (b) | as a director of a practice which is a juristic entity, |
must be in possession of a Fidelity Fund certificate.
| (2) | No legal practitioner referred to in subsection (1) or person employed or supervised by that legal practitioner may receive or hold funds or property belonging to any person unless the legal practitioner concerned is in possession of a Fidelity Fund certificate. |
| (3) | The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) apply to a deposit taken on account of fees or disbursements in respect of legal services to be rendered. |
| (4) | A Fidelity Fund certificate must indicate that the legal practitioner concerned is obliged to practise subject to the provisions of this Act, and the fact that such a legal practitioner holds such a certificate must be endorsed against his or her enrolment by the Council. |
| (5) | A legal practitioner referred to in subsection (1) who— |
| (a) | transfers from one practice to another; or |
must give notice of this fact to the Council and comply with the Council’s relevant requirements in relation to the closure of that legal practitioner’s trust account and in the case of paragraph (b) return his or her certificate to the Council.
| (6) | The Council may withdraw a Fidelity Fund certificate and, where necessary, obtain an interdict against the legal practitioner concerned if he or she fails to comply with the provisions of this Act or in any way acts unlawfully or unethically. |
| (7) | The provisions of this section do not apply to a legal practitioner who practises in the full time employ of Legal Aid South Africa on a permanent basis. |
| (8) | An advocate, other than an advocate referred to in section 34(2)(b), may not receive or hold money or property belonging to any person in the course of that advocate’s practice or in respect of any instruction issued to the advocate by an attorney or a member of the public. |
| (9) | No legal practitioner in the full-time employ of the South African Human Rights Commission or the State as a state attorney, state advocate, state law adviser or in any other professional capacity may receive or keep money or property belonging to any person, except during the course of employment of such legal practitioner with the State or the South African Human Rights Commission and in such case only on behalf of the South African Human Rights Commission or the State and for no other purpose. |
