If you have an interest in becoming a lawyer but you don’t know how, this is the article for you. The most important step is to make sure you have a matric certificate with the correct subjects and adequate grading allowing university admission. You can then apply at a university as a full time student, alternatively, complete your studies by enrolling for the degree by correspondence . To get a bachelor of law (LLB) degree it will take 4 years of full time studying.
If you would like to apply to be an advocate, you will need to complete 1 year of pupillage before writing a bar exam. If you would to become an attorney you will need to complete 2 years of articles, alternatively, you can do one 1 year of Law School night classes and one year of articles concurrently which then enables you to apply to be admitted as an attorney after only 1 year of articles.
Once employed at a law firm as a candidate attorney you will be required to write 4 bar exams, which can only be attempted after completion of at least 6 months of being employed as a candidate attorney. You will also need to complete 2 mandatory block courses together with having to write the said bar exams. Once this has been successfully completed and the requisite time has lapsed you can apply to be admitted as an attorney. Should you find yourself in the Eastern Cape, this admission will take place in the Grahamstown High Court.
If you would like to qualify as a conveyancer or a notary, separate examinations are required to be written for each of them, which exams can only be written by qualified attorneys. You can find out more by reading on the Nelson Mandela Bay University’s website here: https://law.mandela.ac.za/
