CLASA BEE INITIATIVE

CLASA, in commemoration of its 25th year, is embarking on three very important initiatives, which will assist in transforming the South African Legal profession, namely:

i)          the Clasa Foundation Scholarship;
ii)         the Clasa BEE Initiative; and
iii)        the Clasa BEE mentorship programme.

To be successful, these initiatives need to be supported and sustained by the in-house Legal Departments and therefore, buy-in and support from all in-house legal counsel is imperative. Without this support, the respective projects will not reach their full potential and this very important and necessary initiative will fail.

Transformation in South Africa and the commensurate development of previously disadvantaged persons has been on all companies’ agendas over the past years.  This been said and recognised, transformation and the development of previously disadvantaged persons in the Legal Sector has not occurred as quickly and successfully as one would have hoped.

Previously disadvantaged attorneys and advocates are simply not getting the lion’s share – or any share for that matter – of legal work which is on offer, be it from the public or private sector. In consequence, these previously disadvantaged professionals are not getting sufficient exposure to the Courts and to the legal profession. This state of affairs has over the past 2-3 years been borne out by the various briefing pattern surveys which have been carried out by a number of interested groups, most recently a survey carried out by the Black Lawyers Association.

Skills transfer from experienced white legal professionals to previously disadvantaged legal professionals is not taking place at the speed and with the enthusiasm that it should. In support of this argument, we list the various excuses which are usually raised by legal counsel when asked – “do you support and brief previously disadvantaged attorneys and advocates?”  – “No” … reasons being:-

• Not enough experience;
• Don’t possess the necessary skills or experience in our required fields;
• Don’t have the necessary infrastructure to support and deliver our demands;

The excuses abound –

MAKE THE QUANTUM LEAP – SUPPORT THE CLASA BEE INITIATIVE!

Black and other previously disadvantaged attorneys are hungry for the type of exposure, which the CLASA initiative seeks to deliver.

CLASA has received applications from a host of previously disadvantaged attorneys and advocates who hail from a variety of legal firms – large, medium as well as boutique and single practices.

The CLASA CEO has interviewed the majority of the applicants who all have demonstrated a willingness and ability to provide the in-house counsel with a variety of Legal Services. To view the details of the respective attorneys, please refer to the 3 sub headings below.  By simply clicking on the relevant heading, a page will open and inserted thereon, will be the names of the relevant attorneys, their respective credentials, specialities and area of expertise, client listing and law firm details.

These legal professionals are ready and waiting for buy-in and support from you – the in-house Legal Department.

This is where legal counsels’ support is required. It should be an internal commitment made and implemented by each in-house Legal Department – that being to support and brief at least one previously disadvantaged attorney over a financial year period. This support can take on a number of forms:

• ad hoc legal services;
• use of the service provider on a weekly basis where the service provider would spend a day working in the legal advisor’s office and the fee based on a weekly or monthly retainer;
• twinning with a more senior attorney within the same firm or even from another firm.

The objective of the initiative is to encourage the legal advisor to use the attorney initially on a small scale with a view to increasing the brief, workload and complexity of work over a sustained period of time – resulting and giving rise to the ultimate objective, namely – the transfer of skills and the acquisition of a Previously Disadvantaged legal partner and service provider, who the in-house Legal Department and legal counsel can rely on and use over a sustainable period of time.