Candidate Attorneys

Sixteen candidate attorneys are employed at the Law Clinic’s Hatfield and Hammanskraal branches. They serve their articles for one or two years, often attending the Law Society of South Africa’s Law School in the evenings over a period of six months. Their salaries are funded by the University of Pretoria, Legal Aid South Africa and SASSETA.

During their articles, the candidate attorneys are supervised by attorneys and are rotated between the civil litigation and criminal litigation departments at the respective clinics. A candidate attorney’s experience at the University of Pretoria Law Clinic is characterised by hard work, exposure to a variety of areas of law and the ability to grow in independence and develop the necessary legal skills and knowledge to become a competent practitioner.
 

The criminal litigation section develops the candidate attorney’s ability to litigate and find their voice in a courtroom, while providing access to legal representation to accused persons. The civil litigation section exposes the candidate attorneys to family law, labour law, eviction law, delictual and contractual causes of action etc. Clients are represented in the High Court (with the assistance of pro bono Advocates), Regional Magistrate’s Court, District Magistrate’s Court as well as in special courts such as the Equality Court, Children’s Court and Domestic Violence Court.

The Law Clinic provides candidate attorneys with an environment which is diverse, challenging, constructive and allows them to discover their own litigation styles, while under the supervision of attorneys. Results in the attorney’s admission examinations surpass the national average by some margin every year. Since the first candidate attorney was allowed to serve articles at the clinic we have delivered more than 200 attorneys to the profession, thereby assisting in creating access to the profession.