How to practice law and manage mental health
In April 2024, eNCA reported that a recent UNICEF report revealed that 60% of young South Africans have sought mental health assistance in the past year (eNCA ‘South Africa ranks highest in
mental health disorders’ (www.enca.com, accessed 3-8-2024)).
How to balance the Law and religion
South Africa (SA) is a diverse country which embraces various religious communities, including traditional African religions, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and others. It follows that legal
practitioners and the law makers in SA are members of different and various religions.
What is blockchain and why should legal practitioners care?
In October 2019, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola announced that 45 000 trust files had gone missing from the Pretoria Master’s Office (Linda Ensor ‘Pretoria Master’s Office missing 45,000 trust files’ (www.businesslive.co.za, accessed 8-12-2022)). Apparently, these files were ‘destroyed during a storm that caused the roof of the storage facility to be blown off’ (Ensor (op cit)).
5 Tips for legal practices during blackouts
During this month, September 2022, international news has been dominated by the war between Ukraine and Russia and the passing of Queen Elizabeth in the UK. Locally, we are celebrating heritage month, but mostly South African’s are taking about the impact of loadshedding!
Leveraging technology: How can law firms best adapt to operating post-lockdown?
Have you ever seen a black swan? Black swans are regarded to be very rare and precious, as swans are generally white. In investments circles, a black swan is used as a metaphor to refer to an unexpected unpredictable event with major financial consequences, whether good or bad. Considering the unpredictability and severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, overall, the pandemic has been recognised as a black swan event for most sectors, including legal practices.
Tips for lawyer employers re job interviews
The pandemic and lockdown regulations disrupted all law firms. In particular, many law firms had to make changes to operations, including scaling down staff and/or office space.
5 Tips to hire a lawyer
If you are looking for someone to fix your plumbing, will you hire a cook to do it? Probably not! Similarly, how will you know if you are hiring the right lawyer for your specific legal problem or issue?
3 Tips to win Lawyer Stress
Any workplace creates stress. Experts say there are generally mainly 4 stress factors at any work, namely inter-personal relationships, organising, multi-tasking and physical discomfort.
POPIA compliance for South African legal practices
The Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) came into full effect on 1 July 2021. Although lawyers may have been very busy assisting clients to become compliant by the deadline of 30 June 2021, every legal practice also need to comply with POPIA. If you are a lawyer, is your legal practice POPIA compliant?
How to know when to give up your own legal practice?
When I first started my own attorney legal practice in 2004, a law firm owner friend asked me if I was ready to fight.