Pretoria – There is a need for more law graduates specialising in media, environmental and mining law, says Communications Minister Faith Muthambi.
“Advances in technology clearly indicate that there is a new career path for law graduates … they have new opportunities to specialise in areas in privacy, intellectual property and software. So as government, we need the finest legal minds specialising in media, environmental and mining law as well as legal digital specialists,” she said.
Minister Muthambi, an admitted attorney who obtained her BProc Degree from the University of Venda in 1996, was speaking at the launch of the Univen Law Alumni Association on Saturday night in Pretoria.
The Minister told the former law students that law firms and practicing lawyers need to understand their place in the evolving technological market.
She said access to information and services as well as social and economic globalisation required a reconsideration of traditional ethical rules and regulation mechanisms for the legal profession.
“I’m calling on the professors in the law fraternity to encourage law students to specialise in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and broadcasting. We are running short of specialist in those fields,” she said.
Challenges facing law graduates
Minister Muthambi said there was a growing need for career exposure and career guidance at law schools, especially historically black universities.
“It has become a common practice for law firms to require a candidate to have a vehicle before assuming the position of a candidate attorney. This is a challenge for graduates who do not come from a wealthy family,” she said, adding that the question was whether having a vehicle made one capable of appointment as a candidate attorney in a particular firm.
Ethics
The declining ethics practices in the legal profession was worrying. The Minister said the number of attorneys who are suspended or even struck from the roll has seen an upward trend, an indication that ethics in the profession is not always observed.
Convocation executive committee member responsible for fundraising, Lufuno Mudzanani, said: “As former Univen law students, it’s our responsibility to create more opportunities for the law students … we must use this structure to give back to the university.”
Univen School of Law Dean, Annette Lansik said their aim was to be amongst the top five universities in the country producing leaders in the legal field.
“Top universities are controlled by alumni … no group cares more about a university’s prestige than its alumni, who gain or lose esteem as their alma mater’s rankings rises or falls,” she said, adding that there was a need for a news building of the school of law.
Advocate Unarine Makuya was elected the inaugural chairperson of the Law Alumni Association in a structure comprising of nine more members.
The discussions at the glittering event were centred on the challenges and opportunities facing law graduates in the country; the role of former law students in helping universities deal with student funding challenges and overcoming unemployment challenges facing university graduates in South Africa.
School-based alumni associations which have been established include the Univen Agric Alumni Association and the School of Management Sciences Alumni Association. - SAnews.gov.za
