Retired Judge Siraj Desai has blamed the Legal Practice Council (LPC) for the shocking 4% pass rate achieved by aspirant lawyers in ethics and conveyancing examinations. The Legal Practice Council (LPC) is a statutory body empowered to regulate and discipline legal professionals in South Africa.It is also responsible for setting competency-based examinations for aspirant lawyers.In May 2024, when the LPC released the results of these examinations, it emerged the conveyancing tests had between a 1 and 4% pass rate, while the Attorneys` Practice and Legal Ethics examination had a 4% pass rate.The Legal Services Ombud, retired Judge Siraj Desai, has blamed the shocking 4% pass rate achieved by aspirant lawyers in ethics and conveyancing examinations firmly on the Legal Practice Council (LPC). The LPC is ultimately responsible for setting the competency-based examinations in terms of Section 26 of the Legal Practice Act. `In this instance, the LPC failed in one of its most fundamental tasks - to properly regulate the entry of aspirant attorneys to practice. It caused untold misery, if not harm, to many young men and women,` Desai told News24 on Sunday.After stating his office`s recently released report on the `sub-par result on the competency-based examinations conducted by the Legal Practice Council` spoke for itself, the judge added: `We can only hope that the changes proposed by the LPC [in response] are serious and will prevent such occurrences in the future.`During the Ombud`s investigation into the staggeringly high failure rate in the May 2024 examination results, the LPC said it had outsourced the drafting and printing of all Attorneys` Conveyancing and Notarial competency-based examinations to the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) - which in turn said funding cuts had been adversely impacted this drafting process. Since the release of those disastrous results, the LPC told the Ombud, as of the August/September 2024 examinations, it had taken over the setting and administration of all competency-based examinations.While noting the `fact that about 96% of the candidates were unsuccessful with regard to these exams is startling`, the Ombud report concluded: `We can contemplate the suffering it entailed to the candidates who sat for the examinations, the need to rewrite the examination, the financial burden on the candidates and their families, the psychological effect on them and possibly diminished prospects of employment. The LPC has in effect taken steps to remedy the situation for future candidates. `It cannot, however, undo the harm caused to the candidates who wrote these exams and were unsuccessful. That is cause for considerable concern. We trust that the LPC will take the necessary steps to avoid such an outcome in the future.`The LPC told News24 it noted the report and the newly reconstituted council `will consider the recommendations as well as other additional measures that can be implemented`. It stressed `many of the changes` recommended by the Ombud `have already been implemented and results of these initiatives have already begun to show positive outcomes`. `The report will be placed before the new council`s education accreditations and standards committee which will continue to oversee, monitor and guide on all our education initiatives - which have already begun to show major improvements judging by the last exams,` LPC spokesperson Kabelo Letebele said.The Ombud revealed in its report on the exam results the previous LPC education, standard and accreditation committee `was of the view that many candidates did not adequately prepare for the examination` and `did not properly read questions and it resulted in candidates giving general answers`. According to the Ombud, the LPC recorded `it has over the years become increasingly concerned with the poor performance of candidates in the competency-based examinations and has over the past three years made an effort to understand the factors which contributed to the poor performance`.It appeared from many of the LPC`s responses to the Ombud it blamed the aspirant lawyers who failed the exams for their poor results.The Ombud, however, focused its investigation on the `examination process and its effectiveness; the quality of training and preparation provided by accredited institutions; and the examination conditions` that preceded the legal competency-based examination results released by the LPC on 15 May 2024.Those results revealed Paper 3: Attorneys` Practice and Legal Ethics Examination had a 4% pass rate, the conveyancing examination Paper 1: Practice and Procedure of Conveyancing had a 4% pass rate and Paper 2: Statutes and Case Law applicable to Conveyancing had a 1% pass rate. As the Ombud noted in its report, those results `sparked an outcry on the fairness of the examinations from the candidates who wrote in March and April 2024 as well as members of the profession who felt that the results showed a tendency towards exclusionary practices`.`The Ombud also received a letter from the Black Lawyers Association [BLA] expressing their concern over the conveyancing results and requesting that the office investigate the cause of the high failure rate,` the report stated, adding the BLA `further expressed their concerns over gatekeeping in the legal profession`.While it did not address these gatekeeping claims, the Ombud investigation into the examination results found the `process of setting and moderating the Attorneys` Practice and Legal Ethics Examination and the Conveyancing examinations for the March/April examination sittings was insufficient`.The Ombud concluded, because the Attorneys` Practice and Legal Ethics examinations were moderated by the LSSA virtually, `this did not give sufficient opportunity to thoroughly scrutinise the paper`. The Attorneys` Practice and Legal Ethics examination was only reviewed by two people at the LPC, who then raised concerns the paper used the term `champerty` to refer to a litigation financing agreement. As a result, candidates were given the definition of the term during the examination.The Ombud report stated: The Conveyancing examination was not reviewed by the LPC.`Consequently, some questions in the Attorneys` Practice and Legal Ethics and Conveyancing examinations were vague and based on incorrect assumption. The language used also contributed to the vagueness of the questions.`The Ombud also found the `examination conditions` in the Attorneys` Practice and Legal Ethics tests - which included, in one instance, a car being set alight outside the venues - `affected the candidates` time and concentration`.While noting the LPC had already made changes to its competency-based examination system, the Ombud recommended a `rigorous moderation process be undertaken on examination questions as well as the model answers`. `This is important as it is often only upon answering a question that one identifies that there are different interpretations to the questions,` it stated. Further, the Ombud said, the LPC should avoid `as much as is practically possible, making changes to the examination paper or furnishing candidates with additional information during the examination`. `This causes unnecessary disruption and affects candidates` concentration.`In addition to recommending the LPC should consider `selling old Juta Deeds Registries Act and Sectional Titles Act and Regulations Act booklets to candidates to assist them with preparations for the examinations`, the Ombud said the council should `consider enlisting the services of conveyancersæ to assist with the setting of the examination questions and model answers`.This, it added, could bridge `the gap between theory and what is considered a competent conveyancer`.
