Let’s keep it legal

Prospective students considering a law degree often have visions of black robes and courtroom battles in their post-graduation future.

However in South Africa, the legal practice environment has in recent years seen a movement towards more non-litigious, non-adversarial methods of dispute resolution, which means that those who were hesitant to pursue a legal qualification because of what appears like a prohibitively intimidating environment, now have cause to reconsider.

“The legal field is a great option for a sustainable career, but in the past, many prospective students were reluctant to pursue this option because of their concerns that the perceived combative nature of the profession was not a great fit for their personality,” said Bronwyn Le Ann Batchelor, head of faculty, law at The Independent Institute of Education.

However the legal field, and market demands for legal intervention that did not necessarily require the involvement of courts, had expanded greatly in recent years, she said.

“This has led to the introduction of integrative law into the curriculum of institutions which are in touch with developing demands in the industry.

“Integrative law is a forward-thinking elective that prepares graduates for the world of work and this ever-changing legal environment.”

Batchelor said changes in the rules of court, for example, underscored the importance of developing non-traditional legal methods of dispute resolution in SA, which presented an opportunity in a growth field for prospective students, whether they had already decided to pursue an LLB, or indeed if they had not yet decided what they wanted to study.

“The Integrative Law Movement has become a global community of lawyers as peacemakers and lawyers as changemakers, constantly evolving and challenging the way that the practice of law is traditionally practised.

“Integrative law is best described as ‘the emergence of a new legal system’, focused on granting dignity to everyone involved in the legal process on values-based solutions, and it uses a variety of perspectives and approaches to resolving conflict in legal practice.”

Batchelor said prospective students who were interested in incorporating integrative law into their training should take care to interrogate the curriculum at their future institution of higher learning or public university, as it was a new learning track locally and not widely offered, even though it was already widely practised in the world of work.

“It challenges the preconceived and traditional ideas of what a lawyer is and should be, and his or her role in legal practice today and in the future.

“Integrative law disrupts perceptions and enables students to stop and reflect upon conscious and healing methods of practising law for their clients, the opposition, offenders and victims, the community and public at large and, most importantly, for you as a future legal practitioner.”  — The Independent Institute of Education