Bill places cap on legal fees

While KwaZulu-Natal law professionals approved certain aspects of the Legal Practice Bill, they are adamant that a complete overhaul of the profession is not the answer.

The bill, which proposes to give Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe the power to cap legal fees and to abolish bar councils and law societies, has raised eyebrows in the profession. The bill has been on the backburner for more than 10 years, and was again submitted to Parliament last week. If passed in its current form, the bill would absorb the Law Society of South Africa and all bar councils, creating a new South African Legal Practice Council whose role would be to regulate the profession. The proposed council would report directly to the justice and constitutional development minister.

Law professionals in KZN said they have been practising as a self-regulated profession for generations within regulations set out by the various bar councils and law societies. The president of the KZN Law Society, Mxolisi Nxasana, said although he fully supported the government’s call for a unified legal system, he was critical of the profession being controlled by the state. “The bill, in essence, is very useful; however, regulation should be left to the legal profession itself. It should not be controlled by the government,” Nxasana said.

Nxasana also said the capping of fees would be in direct conflict with the Competition Act. He said one of the criticisms of the current system was that clients who wished to employ the services of an advocate had to do so via an attorney. The attorney then briefed the advocate at a cost to the client, he said. If the bill was passed, Nxasana said, the client would be able to approach an advocate directly, thereby cutting costs.

Nxasana said at the moment there were different rules for each province. “If the aim is to unify all the rules, so that the same rules are applicable throughout the country, I don’t see why the government would want to take over legal practitioners, as long as the rules are in line with the Attorneys Act,” he said. Responding to Justice Minister Jeff Radebe’s comments about legal fees in South Africa being higher than those in cities such as New York and Washington DC, Nxasana said: “Our legal fees are not that high, and it goes back to the issue of self-regulation.” Another concern regarding the bill was the clause allowing for ministerial appointees to serve on the council.

Nxasana said he was concerned the bill would allow Radebe to appoint non-lawyers to serve on the council. A Durban attorney said many in the legal fraternity believed that the bill was drafted in “haste”. “The bill should have more input from legal professionals. Whatever input has been given thus far has not been given serious thought,” he said. He also said if there were certain aspects the minister wanted to raise, such as candidate attorneys providing community service, he would be for it. He said he welcomed the idea because of the shortage of access to legal services, especially in rural areas. However, these concerns did not justify an overhaul of the profession. Regarding the capping of legal fees, the attorney said it would be impossible. “If the government caps legal fees – for drafting wills, for example – would banks also be capped, seeing that they also offer the service?” he asked. He said there were currently mechanisms in place to regulate legal fees.

Source: Iol