Purpose of the IPCE’s Practical Vocational Programme for Candidate Attorneys:
To provide law graduates with the opportunity to acquire and develop practical legal skills required to become competent legal practitioners.
The primary benefit of attending the IPCE-LS’ Practical Vocational Programme is that law graduates gain a comprehensive set of competencies, which they may not gain as candidate legal practitioners during their period of service under a practical
vocational training contract.
Pedagogical Learning and Delivery
The IPCE-LS’ Practical Vocational Programme consists of modules as prescribed by the regulations of the LPA. Learning is experience-centered to ensure that candidates will be able to perform on an entry level with minimal supervision.
Candidates learn within a practical context, in a simulated law firm environment. Each candidate is allocated to a ‘law firm’ – each ‘law firm’ has access to an office and to computers and a law library.
Mock-courts and practical work form the foundation of the learning. Candidates exchange pleadings and draft the necessary court papers in action and application proceedings. The medium of instruction is English, and the learning is provided by practicing legal practitioners.
Introduction
Before admission as a legal practitioner an LLB graduate must serve as a candidate legal practitioner with a practicing legal practitioner for 24 months and attend a short, structured course approved by the Legal Practice Council (LPC).
The course is currently as per reg 6 in terms of s109 (1)(a) of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 (LPA). This compulsory course for candidate legal practitioners has been approved to prepare candidates for the admission examinations.
The course consists of two modules:
o Module I is designed to assist students to prepare for the first paper in the Admission Examination.
o Module II is designed to assist students prepare for the second, third and fourth papers in the Admission Examination.
The course is presented on a full-time; part-time; and evening basis.
The entire compulsory course for candidate legal practitioners has to be completed within 36 months of the registration of the practical vocational training (PVT) contract in terms of reg 6 (a)(ii) or the participant will be required to repeat the programme.