A person must successfully complete the pupillage programme and pass the National Bar Examination Board exam in order to practice as a member of the Cape Bar.
Pupillage is a full-time, demanding programme which runs from January to December each year. Pupils who meet minimum requirements of previous experience as a legal practitioner may be exempted from part of the programme.
Prospective applicants for pupillage at the Cape Bar during 2022 are informed as follows:
At this stage the Cape Bar plans to offer a pupillage programmed during 2022.
Applications for the programmed are now open. Relevant details about the programmed are set out in the application form. The declaration must be completed and submitted together with the application form.
The deadline for applications for the programmed is midday on Friday, 30 August 2022.
The reference check documents must be submitted by no later than midday on Monday, 30 September 2022.
The Legal Practice Council has not as yet approved the Cape Bar’s programmed for 2022, which approval is required in order for the programmed to be recognized for the purposes of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2022. Applicants for pupillage will be informed if the Legal Practice Council refuses approval or takes any other decision adverse to persons wanting to do pupillage at the Cape Bar in 2022.
The Legal Practice Council may also determine that remuneration, or an allowance or stipend be paid to pupils in 2022, without itself providing the funding therefor.
The Cape Bar reserves the right to cancel the pupillage programmed for 2022 in any of the eventualities described in (e) and (f), even if by the time of the event in question the programmed has already commenced.
Applying for pupillage:
Anyone who has an LLB degree from a South African university, is a ‘fit and proper’ person, and meets certain formal requirements is welcome to apply to be admitted to the pupillage programme.
The selection policy promotes transformation of the Cape Bar by giving preference to applicants who are black, female and/or disabled. The Cape Bar’s criteria and process for selecting applicants are set out in its selection policy and selection manual.
Hard copies of the application form will be made available for collection at the Bar Secretariat once the form been published on the website.
There is a strict deadline for applications. The Cape Bar will not consider any applications received at its offices after midday on the last working day of August in the year preceding the year of pupillage (i.e. Friday, 30 August 2022).
Space on the pupillage programme is limited.
Click here for more information about the prestigious Arthur Chaskalson Fellowship which is offered in partnership between the Cape Bar and the Legal Resources Centre.