B-BBEE Legal Sector Code: New developments

On 12 September 2024 Minister Parks Tau of the DTIC approved the Legal Sector Code in terms of Section 9(1) of the B-BBEE Act.

Law Firms and Advocates are currently still being verified based on the Amended Codes of Good Practice, however the new Legal Sector Codes were drafted by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development in collaboration with the Legal Practice Council and various other stakeholders to specifically address the transformation needs specific to this sector.

These Legal Codes aim to empower Black practitioners and to ensure that these Black practitioners are competent and receive equal opportunities.? These Codes also aim to ensure access to affordable legal services for the poor and rural communities by emphasising pro bono and community-based legal services.

The Draft Legal Sector Code has significant differences from the Amended Codes of Good Practice, from the thresholds of qualifying enterprises to the targets and weightings on each element. Each element in these codes were developed specifically to address the transformation barriers in the Legal Sector and to reflect the specific structure of the legal services profession. It is because of these significant changes that there were a lot of commentary received in 2022. The final Legal Sector Codes have not been published in the Government Gazette but is expected very soon.

Our team at Elevate Advisory Partners are ready to assist you to understand and comply with the new Legal Sector Codes and to unlock opportunities to grow your business.

To ensure that you are kept up to date and prepared when these codes are implemented keep an eye on our page.

For? more information contact [email protected]