Port Elizabeth attorney Max Boqwana and Somerset West attorney Ettienne Barnard have been elected as Co-Chairpersons of the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA). They will lead the attorneys' profession through the crucial initial stages of the transitional process to a new dispensation under the National Forum envisioned in the Legal Practice Bill.
The Bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament in March this year and is awaiting assent by President Zuma, which is expected before the 7 May 2014 elections.
About Ettienne Barnard
Ettienne Barnard is currently the Vice President of the Cape Law Society where he has served as a council member and a member of its Magistrate's Court Committee. He holds the BA LLB degrees from Stellenbosch University and was admitted as an attorney and conveyancer in 1993. He specialises in commercial law and litigation at the firm Ettienne Barnard Attorneys.
He is a council member of the LSSA and a member of its Small Claims Courts Committee. In the field of skills development, Mr Barnard is a drafter and lecturer in magistrate's court practice, commercial subjects as well as practice management and administration for the LSSA' Legal Education and Development (LEAD) division.
Mr Barnard, who serves as a commissioner of the Small Claims Court, has been a member of the Small Claims Court Joint Venture Committee with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and Western Cape universities, and has assisted in drafting and updating the manuals for clerks and commissioners of the Small Claims Court. He is also a member of the Western Cape Advisory Committee to Sheriffs' Board and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development regarding the appointment of sheriffs.
He has chaired and held executive or other positions on the governing bodies of a number of local and regional community organisations and trusts.
About Max Boqwana
Max Boqwana, who is also the President of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, is serving his third term as LSSA Co-Chairperson. He served as Co-Chairperson in August 2008 until April 2009, taking over from Vincent Saldanha who was appointed as a judge in the Western Cape High Court: Cape Town, and was again Co-Chairperson of the LSSA in 2010.
Max Boqwana is a Council member of the LSSA; a member of the LSSA's Management Committee; a Council Member of the SADC Lawyers Association and an executive member of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.
He has the BA LLB degrees from Rhodes University. He is a director at Boqwana Burns Inc which has offices in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, and where he focuses on commercial and administrative law. He has served as an acting Judge in the Eastern Cape High Court.
Mr Boqwana was Chairperson of the Board of Control of the Attorneys Fidelity Fund from 2005 to 2007 and was a director of the Attorney Insurance Indemnity Fund. He served as a Council member of the Cape Law Society for several years.
Besides holding other commercial leadership positions, Mr Boqwana was a director of the Eastern Cape Cricket Board and a former director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa/Cricket South Africa.
Issued by Barbara Whittle Communication Manager, Law Society of South Africa