Duration of LLB should be extended: Law society

Prospective lawyers should study for five years, instead of four, to obtain their LLB degrees, the Law Society of SA said.

This was proposed last month at a summit about the LLB degree, LSSA spokeswoman Barbara Whittle said in a statement.

"Delegates at the LLB summit... [also] resolved to request the council for higher education to conduct a standard-setting process for the LLB degree, to be concluded by 30 June, 2014," she said.

This would set the required attributes for graduates, including knowledge of substantive law, generic skills, ethics and a commitment to social justice.

The summit's steering committee would be consulted when the process took place.

Whittle said a national task team would be convened before the end of August to monitor the process and to facilitate ongoing liaison between universities and the industry.

Its members would include representatives of the SA Law Deans Association, the LSSA, the General Council of the Bar of SA, the justice and higher education departments, and the Society of Law Teachers of Southern Africa.

Whittle said the summit had also agreed that adequate funding of university law clinics be promoted.

"These law clinics allow law students to integrate their knowledge with the practice of the law by gaining practical experience. They also provide much needed legal services to... members of the public," she said.