Legal Practice Act, 2014 (Act No. 28 of 2014)Chapter 9 : Regulations and Rules95. Rules |
| (1) | The Council may, and where required in the circumstances, must by publication in the Gazette, make rules relating to— |
| (a) | the fees and charges payable to the Council as contemplated in section 6(4); |
| (b) | the procedures to be followed before a member of the Council is removed or suspended from office as contemplated in section 12(4); |
| (c) | the procedure for convening meetings of the Council and the procedure for the conduct of meetings as contemplated in section 16(2); |
| (d) | the procedure for the conduct of meetings of committees of the Council as contemplated in section 18(3); |
| (e) | the procedure for the appointment of the executive officer and other employees of the Council as contemplated in section 19(4); |
| (f) | the conditions of service of the executive officer and other employees of the Council as contemplated in section 19(6); |
| (g) | the establishment of an executive committee and the determination of its powers and functions as contemplated in section 20(1); |
| (h) | the procedure for convening meetings of the executive committee and the procedure for the conduct of meetings as contemplated in section 20(9)(b); |
| (i) | the investment of monies of the Council which are not required for immediate use as contemplated in section 22(3)(b); |
| (j) | a procedure for the election of Provincial Councils as contemplated in section 23(4); |
| (k) | the information which must be submitted to the Council when a person applies to court for admission as a legal practitioner and the time period within which that information must be submitted as contemplated in section 24(2)(d); |
| (l) | the period of practice as an attorney and the advocacy training programme as contemplated in the proviso to section 25(3)(a); |
| (m) | the information which must be submitted to the Council when an attorney applies to the registrar of a Division of the High Court for a certificate for the right to appear in the High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal or the Constitutional Court and the time period within which that information must be submitted as contemplated in section 25(4)(a); |
| (n) | competency–based examinations or assessments for candidate legal practitioners, conveyancers or notaries as contemplated in section 26(1)(d), (2) and (3); |
| (o) | the minimum conditions and procedures for the registration and administration of practical vocational training and the payment of remuneration, allowances or stipends to all candidate legal practitioners as contemplated section 27; |
| (p) | procedures and directions pertaining to the assessment of persons undergoing practical vocational training as contemplated in section 28(1); |
| (q) | the level of competence to be achieved for the admission and enrolment of a person as a legal practitioner as contemplated in section 28(2); |
| (r) | the criteria for a person, institution, organisation or association to qualify to conduct the assessment of practical vocational training as contemplated in section 28(4); |
| (s) | the exemption of any candidate legal practitioner or legal practitioner from performing community service as contemplated in section 29(3); |
| (t) | the manner in which an application by a person admitted by the court as a legal practitioner must be submitted to the Council through the Provincial Council in question for the enrolment of his or her name on the Roll as contemplated in section 30(1)(a)and (b)(iii); |
| (u) | the fee to be paid by a person applying to the Council for enrolment as contemplated in section 30(1)(b)(i); |
| (v) | the manner in which the Council must keep the Roll of legal practitioners as contemplated in section 30(3); |
| (w) | the notification by the Council of a person of the cancellation or suspension of his or her enrolment as contemplated in section 31(3); |
| (x) | the manner in which an application must be made by a legal practitioner to the Council for the conversion of his or her enrolment as an attorney to that of an advocate and vice versa and the fee payable as contemplated in section 32(1)(a); |
| (y) | the manner in which an application must be made by an advocate practising as such referred to in section 34(2)(a)(i) to the Council, for the conversion of his or her enrolment to that of an advocate practising as such referred to in section 34(2)(a)(ii) and vice versa as contemplated in section 32(1)(b); |
| (z) | the circumstances in which a legal practitioner can apply for the conversion of his or her enrolment and the requirements that must be complied with as contemplated in section 32(3); |
| (zA) | those legal services that may be rendered by an advocate as contemplated in section 34(2)(b); |
| (zB) | the briefing of advocates by attorneys and the briefing of advocates directly by members of the public as contemplated in section 34(3); |
| (zC) | the instruction of attorneys as contemplated in section 34(4); |
| (zD) | the approval for the establishment of law clinics as contemplated in section 34(8)(a); |
| (zE) | the requirements for the engagement of candidate legal practitioners by law clinics as contemplated in section 34(8)(b)(iv); |
| (zF) | those legal services which may not be rendered by law clinics as contemplated in section 34(8)(b)(v); |
| (zG) | the procedure to be followed by disciplinary bodies for dealing with complaints of misconduct as contemplated in sections 38(1) and 39(1); |
| (zH) | the form of a subpoena and the manner of service thereof as contemplated in section 39(3)(b)(i) and (iii); |
| (zI) | the manner in which a legal practitioner, candidate legal practitioner, juristic entity or complainant may lodge an appeal to an appeal tribunal as contemplated in section 41(1)(a) and (b); |
| (zJ) | a procedure for the election of legal practitioners to the Board as contemplated in section 62(1)(a), in consultation with the Board; |
| (zK) | applications to the Council by legal practitioners for Fidelity Fund certificates as contemplated in section 85(1)(a); |
| (zL) | the legal practice management course to be completed by first time attorneys and advocates referred to in section 34(2)(b) and the fee payable in respect thereof as contemplated in section 85(1)(b); |
| (zM) | the contribution payable by persons applying for Fidelity Fund certificates as contemplated in section 85(2); |
| (zN) | the form of the application for Fidelity Fund certificates as contemplated in section 85(6)(d); or |
| (zO) | any other matter in respect of which rules may or must be made in terms of this Act; |
| (2) | The Legal Services Ombud must, by publication in the Gazette, make rules relating to— |
| (a) | the form of a summons and the manner of service thereof as contemplated in section 48(3)(a) and (d); |
| (b) | the preparation and submission of the annual report of the Office of the Ombud to the Minister as contemplated in section 52(1); and |
| (c) | any other matter concerning the Office of the Legal Services Ombud. |
| (3) | The Board must, by publication in the Gazette, make rules relating to— |
| (a) | the inspection of trust accounts of attorneys and advocates referred to in section 34(2)(b) as contemplated in section 63(1)(e); and |
| (b) | contributions to the Fund and the issuing and costs of Fidelity Fund certificates, the procedure for the appointment of the executive officer and other employees of the Fund or any other matter concerning the Fund as contemplated in section 63(1)(f). |
| (4) |
| (a) | Before the Council, the Ombud or the Board makes any rule under this section, the Council, the Ombud or the Board, as the case may be, must publish a draft of the proposed rule in the Gazette together with a notice, calling on interested persons to comment in writing within a period stated in the notice, which may not be less than 30 days from the date of publication of the notice. |
| (b) | If the Council, the Ombud or the Board alters the draft rules as a result of any comments, it need not publish those alterations before making the rule. |
| (5) | The Council, the Ombud or the Board may, if circumstances necessitate the publication of a rule without giving notice provided for in subsection (4)(a), publish that rule without prior publication of a draft as provided for in subsection (4), provided that the notice of publication states— |
| (a) | the reason why circumstances necessitated that publication without prior publication of a draft as provided for in subsection (4); and |
| (b) | that any person who is aggrieved by the rule may make representations to the Council, the Ombud or the Board, as the case may be, within a period stated in the notice, which may not be less than 30 days from the date of publication of the notice. |