Aspirant legal practitioners from the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Law Faculty got a first-hand account of the legal profession from experienced legal trailblazers working in different aspects of the law.

Recently, the UWC Faculty of Law and the Moot Court Society held the “Choose a Profession” event at the ResLife Hall to give students an insight into the legal profession and what they could expect and likely encounter.

Lungiswa Jafta and Adv Brenton Joseph listen attentively as one of their fellow panelists makes a presentation to law students. 

UWC LLB graduate Lindiswa Jafta - now an admitted attorney and associate of the High Court - is a conveyancer with STTB after completing her degree in 2019. She explicitly highlighted that the nature of her job does not involve going to court.

By her admission, she said her field of law is not popular because her work is out of the media glare and that it is not synonymous with fame.

“Our work involves mostly administration…we are mostly involved in drafting of legal documents, legal contracts, lease agreements, sale agreements, commercial agreements. It also involves checking other people's work,” said Jafta who highlighted that those who wanted to become conveyancers required attention to detail.

Legal researcher and expert on constitutional law, Mbekezeli Benjamin tells law students that his work meant pushing the boundaries. 

Mbekezeli Benjamin, a legal researcher and a leading expert on South Africa’s Constitution, said thst exposure to the social sciences is essential for lawyers because it widens their ability to think.

“One of the reasons that people pay lawyers, is that lawyers can think and lawyers can make decisions and give advice on how people should do the kinds of things that they want to do.

“One of the skills that will never, ever, be replaced even if we got the most advanced artificial intelligence, is the ability to think,” said Benjamin.

He said not even the most advanced AI system could find, analyse information within context, and produce information.

Benjamin said aspirant legal researchers should push the boundaries because the legislation is not yet in place. There is also scope for legal researchers to act as consultants, particularly in political risk consulting to major corporations.

“The skills that you learn at UWC should future-proof your career. It's more about the skill, and less so about the job,” said Benjamin.

Advocate Brenton Joseph SC, who graduated from UWC more than 30 years ago, told students that context was everything.

“We’re all budding lawyers sitting in this room, but every one of us has a different context. Because we have different contexts we have to be able to be aware of where we come from, where we currently are and where we want to be, because that informs how you think,” said Joseph.

Mbekezeli Benjamin takes questions from law students after the seminar.

Pointing to his own life experiences, Joseph said it is important to have the humility to, sometimes, learn from others. He acknowledged that as a student at UWC in the early 1990s, he made some mistakes, but he knuckled down and got to work.

“You need confidence and you need grit to go out there and achieve. Nobody can do that for you. That’s how you learn,” said Joseph.

Advocate Andre Oosthuizen SC told students that the first requirement for aspirant lawyers is an enjoyment of reading, and an ability to think analytically and systematically.

“You’ve got to have a system for preparing for anything, and you’ve got to be able to tell a story,” said Oosthuizen.