Attorneys and advocates who fail to comply with a legal sector code of good practice once it is finalised will lose out on millions of rands spent by the government and organs of state on legal services, reports BusinessLIVE.

The third draft of the code – which has been under development since mid-2020 by the Legal Practice Council (LPC) – was gazetted on Friday by Trade, Industry & Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel.

It aims to increase the procurement of legal services by the private and public sectors from black-owned firms and black advocates, especially women.

‘When the code comes into effect there will not be a punitive process for non-compliance. However, firms that opt not to comply will find it much harder to receive briefs from the state if they are not measured by the code,’ LPC communications manager Kabelo Letebele said.

‘While it is not compulsory to be measured, the firms that comply will be considered more favourably when the State Attorney’s office considers firms for government briefs.’

The code sets out the requirements that legal firms and advocates will have to comply with in terms of ownership, management control, skills development, enterprise development and socio-economic development if they wish to qualify for this work.

The aim – as is the case with the codes of good practice in other economic sectors – is to promote the development of black-owned firms to ensure the legal sector is representative of the demographics of SA.

The introduction to the scorecard requirements in the gazette notes that ‘there has been a lack of sufficient and/or quality legal instructions to black attorneys from the private sector, organs of state and public entities.

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