Chambers rules: another silk quits bar
Another senior counsel has resigned from the bar over its rules on how advocates must keep chambers.
Anton Katz SC left the Cape Bar this week after almost 30 years, saying its housing policy was “clearly outdated and arguably unconstitutional”.
Katz’s resignation follows that of Ishmael Semenya SC, who resigned from the Johannesburg Bar last week after a motion was passed to enforce a rule that members of the Johannesburg Bar could not share chambers with advocates who were not members of the Johannesburg Bar.
In Katz’s case, he was not granted an exemption from the Cape Bar’s rule that members must keep chambers approved by the bar council unless exempted for “good cause”.
Katz’s reasons for wanting an exemption are “personal”. But the financial pinch of the pandemic has thrown into sharp relief longheld gripes about some of the bar’s rules on chambers.
All the bars that fall under the General Council of the Bar require members to hold chambers in buildings that have been approved by their bar councils.
The rationale for the rule is that shared chambers facilitate cohesion, allowing juniors to pick up work, andwisdom, from seniors. The pupillage system would, say supporters, not work nearly as well without it. The system of bar council-approved chambers supports an institutional culture of professional excellence and high ethical standards, they say.
Enforcing approved chambers in a single place like Cape Town does — in one strip down Keerom Street — also prevents the fracturing of the profession, which can lead to elitist pockets in the suburbs as has happened in Pretoria, said a senior counsel in Cape Town.
However, the payment of bar rental — on top of bar dues — has been an ongoing resentment for some advocates. Critics say there is a lack of flexibility on the part of bar councils, which are said to demand payment no matter people’s personal circumstances. The rule’s negative impact on the ability of the bar to retain black and women juniors has also been documented.
Bar councils are often tied into long-lease arrangements with the owners of buildings, signed in happier times, that contain standby liability clauses that require the bar councils to top up rentals to landlords once occupancy declines below a certain threshold. For every application for an exemption, the bar council must weigh the individual’s circumstance against the general good.
During the Covid-19 lockdown a number of bars have taken measures to assist with chambers rental. A senior counsel at the Cape Bar said that, in response to the lockdown hardships, members have this year been allowed to share chambers.
But the Cape Bar Council appears to also have recognised that long-term change may be necessary. In his resignation letter, Katz refers to a survey which he said found that a substantial majority of members supported amore flexible system that allowed for sharing even for the more senior members, and that 54 members said they would leave the bar unless things changed.
There are about 500 members at the Cape Bar.
Katz quoted the survey as saying the majority of these were juniors, of whom most were women and black members. Working from home was supported by 68% of the members, he said.
Chair of the Cape Bar Council Brenton Joseph SC said he was not in a position to comment in time for publication. The web version of this story will be updated with the Cape Bar’s comment as soon as it is received.