Page 28 - The Circle of Life

The other major difference is that South Africa and most surrounding countries

differentiate between attorneys and advocates same as the UK with its Solicitor's
and Barristers. They have the same degrees but different training and both write
a tough exam to become members of the either the law society (attorneys) or

bar council (advocates). There are rebel advocates around who belongs to their

own council but I do not know them well or use their services.

* This will change soon I think and we will only have lawyers like I understand

the American system to be.

You, the client, cannot, by law, approach an advocate directly. You must go
through the attorney which causes a lot of stress for the attorney to collect the

advocate’s fees and leads to double fees being charged for both must be paid by
the client. However this is a good system for the two don't mix well. Attorneys

by nature are not higher court animals and advocates are. They are specialist
litigators and you find them in the Higher Courts doing plenty talking and let me

tell you, taking tremendous strain for the Judges are bound to ask questions
which they have to answer.

I sometimes think the Judges are lonely and their need to talk to you is
distressful in the extreme. The advocates deserve good money for what they do

for any weakness of knowledge is exposed in full view of colleagues and the
public. It is a tough life. Even they have different rank from baby junior to silk or

senior counsel (Queens Counsel in the UK).

All the above is used in this book sometimes as lawyers in the American sense of
the word where you have a man who obtained his law degrees, passed law

school, wrote his bar exam and is now practicing as a lawyer for his own
account. Technically it is wrong to use it like this but it would be even more

boring not to. I am sure you know what I mean when I say lawyer.

All lawyers as a general rule wear robes in court. The robes don’t look the same

and is divided into different ranks of seniority. Courts, whatever their jurisdiction

is a very respectful place and very traditional. There are no shouting or other
disrespect shown and you need your wits to survive never mind legal knowledge.
It is the way it should be for a court is the ultimate expression in the search of

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