The Black Lawyers Association says a case about black economic empowerment in which no black lawyers were involved is indicative of a broader problem of skewed briefing patterns.
A high court judge recently highlighted the issue of racial representation in the legal fraternity when he questioned why there were no black lawyers involved in a case about black economic empowerment , and legal practitioners are now expressing concern that racially skewed briefing patterns could affect the quality of the judiciary in future.
Advocate Johan Brand called Motha’s request “totally inappropriate” and opted not to respond to it, as requested. Some in the legal community have applauded Motha’s approach, and the BLA said the case is indicative of a broader problem of skewed briefing patterns. “I’m saying, let’s talk about whether it does exist or not. And I’m sure the evidence is going to come out that it does exist.
When judges are chosen to sit on the high court Bench, they are often chosen from the ranks of senior advocates or magistrates. During interviews, they need to demonstrate wide-ranging experience, as the high court often deals with complex commercial cases, competition law, insolvency and administrative law.
Benjamin notes that many complex cases are handled by the same few large law firms and their lawyers tend to brief the same advocates. “If we aspire to a transformed judiciary but don’t have a pipeline of practitioners who have the proper experience, it is a risk. It is a serious risk to the entire legal enterprise. If we have a weak judiciary, we will have a weak rule of law.”
However, Mvundlela says there is a need to examine these numbers further to ensure that the same people are not being briefed repeatedly. At the end of the day the client is entitled to choose their own representation. In high value cases the client will want the most experienced representation they can afford. If you look at lawyers who are 20or 30 years qualified there is likely to be an over representation of whites. This will change as more black lawyers come through the system.
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