If the South African Law Deans Association (Salda) approves moves to turn the LLB from a four-year to a five-year programme, it will make better lawyers – but young professionals will start off their careers R80 000 poorer.
If the South African Law Deans Association (Salda) approves moves to turn the LLB from a four-year to a five-year programme, it will make better lawyers – but young professionals will start off their careers R80 000 poorer.
A press statement from Salda, the Law Society of South Africa and the General Council of the Bar of South Africa earlier this year said university deans of law were set to meet members of the South African legal group to discuss whether LLB education in the country is indeed in crisis.
South African LLB students will also have to brace themselves for a much heavier workload Professor Jonathan Campbell of the Rhodes Faculty of Law told Grocott’s Mail, historically it has been shown that by providing a broader more formative legal education at undergraduate level – including not just law but non-law subjects as well – students are equipped in a much broader fashion educationally for studying law.
“There are different schools of thought some say it should simply be a five-year undergraduate degree which will increase the non-law component. Others say it should be a two degree course and I’m one of those,” Campbell said.
Rhodes University will likely not feel the impacts of this change as the LLB is already a two degree programme over five years. The advantage of the that programme is that as a student, one has non-law subjects as well, Campbell said.
“This programme does not only make students academically strong but better prepared for practice because we have to assume that’s what they want although half of them don’t,” he said.
According to Campbell, if students are pushed to do a more rigorous programme which includes subjects other than law they will emerge as much stronger graduates and they are more likely to succeed and be better qualified for practice.
Rhodes student Lindokuhle Zungu, believes the five-year programme will better equip students with a lot of experience in the work place as it will broaden their knowledge.
“It is very necessary because there have been complaints about law graduates not knowing how to properly construct English documents in the work place,” Zungu said.
However Zungu described how badly it would financially impact on some students as it will cost an extra R80 000 for another year.
Campbell echoed Zungu saying the current degree is too easy and is producing graduates who are not successful in practice which has massive negative implications.
“The department of Justice and Constitutional development are opposed to the extension, and if they don’t co-operate, it won’t happen” Campbell said.
