Times Of Swaziland: LAW SOCIETY TO  PUBLISH ALL COMPLIANT LAWYERS

LAW SOCIETY TO  PUBLISH ALL COMPLIANT LAWYERS
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Sithembile Hlatshwayo on 17/06/2019 08:38:00


MBABANE – In a bid to put its house in order, the Law Society of Swaziland
(LSS) will publish all lawyers who are in good standing in terms of the Legal
Practitioners Act.
he list will be published on Wednesday through the country’s print media. In a
notice issued on June 11, 2019, Vice President of the LSS Lucky Howe said a list
of all members in good standing was available for inspection at the LSS offices
until last Friday. This exercise was for lawyers to ensure that their names were
not omitted by mistake. Law Society Treasurer Thabiso Mavuso said after the
publication of the list, members of the public will deal with those lawyers who
did not appear at their own risk.Mavuso said publishing the names of the legal
representatives who were in good standing was to assist the public to excercise
caution. “If a client faces a problem with a lawyer who is not in good
standing, they should not at any point approach LSS.”
Suspended
He said although non-compliant members would not be removed or suspended from
practice, they would have a challenge in practising until they meet the required
expectations. According to Mavuso, those lawyers in good standing needed to have
paid subscriptions for Fidelity Fund, audited financials for the previous year
and also up to date with their LSS subscriptions. Recently, the Attorney General
(AG), Sifiso Khumalo, wanted lawyers who were not in good standing to be
suspended from practice for allegedly failing to comply with the Legal
Practitioners Act. He accused them of having failed to submit to him their 
trust account certificate, which had been signed by an auditor of chartered
accountant. Khumalo in his endeavour moved over 21 applications at the High
Court where he was seeking orders for the removal of attorneys who failed to
comply with the Act. According to LSS, the AG does not have powers to apply for
the suspension, removal or expulsion of lawyers from practice.