Candidate Attorneys (CAs)

Adams & Adams focuses on recruiting CAs who are committed to a successful career in various aspects of law, including (but not limited to) general litigation, trade marks and patents.

We go to great lengths to attract the best graduates from leading universities in order to enhance our knowledge-base and excellent service levels.

Every year we employ a number of law graduates to train as candidate attorneys by completing their articles of clerkship under the supervision of our professional staff. Visits are paid to some of the tertiary institutions within South Africa during the year to conduct interviews with prospective candidates. We also have various other recruitment programmes, for example we participate in the Integrated Bar Project and other placement schemes run by the Black Lawyers Association (BLA), jointly with the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA).

What work CAs are involved in

The training of a CA is an ongoing process, with the biggest focus placed on on-the-job-training. This comes from immediate involvement and responsibility in all active matters – a true "hands on" approach.

CAs will spend approximately one year in each of the General Law or Trade Marks Departments, whilst being rotated to various partners and other professionals within those departments during the 12-month period.

This ensures adequate training in the department and results in a feeling of involvement, "being part of it all", and ultimately, your own achievement.

A CA can expect to deal with various matters in some of the following areas of practice:

General Law Department

• Third party claims
• Conveyancing
  
• Personal injury claims
  
• Medical negligence claims
  
• Insurance law claims
  
• Banking law claims

Trade Marks Department

• Counterfeiting
  
• Litigation
  
• Infringement
  
• Prosecution and application
  
• Copyright

Training of CAs

Induction

On arrival, the CAs are involved in a comprehensive induction programme, during which they are trained in, amongst other office areas:

• dictation
  
• computer skills
  
• business writing
  
• mentorship
  
• etiquette, etc.

They are also introduced to the support staff of the firm, the firm's culture, policies and procedures, web services, the library and all professional staff and partners.

Hands-on training

Adams & Adams believes that practical experience is the most effective way to become a competent attorney. Each CA is therefore appointed to a partner and his/her professional team for a period of at least three months. During this period the CA is able to gain hands-on experience through involvement in all aspects of the reporting partner's day-to-day practice, including:

• attending consultations
  
• taking instructions
  
• attending court
  
• drafting documentation
  
• drafting opinions
  
• doing research, and much more.

Regular feedback on performance is provided based on delivery of the above aspects. Such feedback sessions take place formally on a six-monthly basis, through our comprehensive performance appraisal system.

In-house training lectures

Our in-house training programme takes into account the interests of CAs and that of the firm. It runs over the first 11 months of articles and provides practical insight into various fields and aspects of law in which CAs can expect to gain experience and knowledge.

All CAs are obliged to attend this programme.

Practical legal training (PLT)

We require all first year CAs to attend the Practical Legal Training (PLT) presented by Legal Education and Development (LEAD) of the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA).

The objective of PLT is to supplement the training provided by the firm and to provide an overall knowledge, skills and attitude required for a competent attorney in practice. The course is practice-orientated and emphasis is placed on the Admission Examinations.

Patent Candidate Attorneys

With the firm having a dynamic, ever-growing Patent Law Department, we also recruit BSc graduates from various disciplines. These candidates are appointed as and when a specific need arises.

In addition to a science or engineering degree, a prospective patent attorney also has to obtain a law degree (LLB), be articled to a patent attorney, pass the attorneys' admission examinations and pass the patent examinations (set by the SA Institute of Intellectual Property Law). As you can see, substantial study and commitment is required. Tuition for such study is given during office hours and CAs attend the official PLT coaching courses provided by the Law Society of South Africa to assist them in passing the attorneys admission examinations.

For a person who has both a BSc and an LLB degree, generally three to five years (or possibly more) of part-time training, whilst working for a firm of patent attorneys, is usually required before a person is permitted to qualify as a patent attorney.

Growing our own timber

Adams & Adams has long held the conviction that, both from a growth strategy perspective and for the achievement of transformation goals, a more sustainable success rate can be achieved by a process of "homogeneous growth", which includes:

• a focused and pro-active recruitment initiative
  
• an intensive and tailor-made internal training programme for new recruits, coupled with personal mentoring
  
• providing young qualified practitioners with opportunities for specialisation and practice expansion in an enabling and supportive environment, and finally
• providing young, admitted attorneys who have proved to be high performers, with the opportunity to become permanent members of the Adams & Adams team of professionals.

This policy has again proven itself. Adams & Adams is proud of its new candidate attorneys, professional assistants and associates promoted from within the ranks of its professional staff.

An intake of 17 new CAs has commenced serving their articles of clerkship in 2008 and will undergo Practical Legal Training over the next two years. These first-year candidates will be joining the 14 second-year candidates to give the firm a total complement of 31 CAs serving articles in the Trade Mark and General Law Departments. In addition, we have 13 patent candidate attorneys from various scientific and engineering disciplines, gaining exposure to the legal environment.

Adams & Adams believes that its complement of young professionals is an investment in the future, and is committed to empowering them to become successful practitioners.

Application for articles

All article clerk positions for 2009 have been filled and we will only accept applications from top students for articles in 2010.

If you are interested in training with Adams & Adams, please send a complete application to any of the address options below:

All applications should be addressed to:
The Human Resources Manager - Articles, Adams & Adams

All CVs should be accompanied by copies of your ID, grade 12 certificate and full academic record, under cover of an introductory letter explaining why you would like to serve articles with Adams & Adams.