PPS survey reveals education is top concern for SA's legal profession

Much needs to be done to restore the educational confidence in the legal profession, according to the 2019 PPS Graduate Professional Index (GPI) results.

When asked what is required to raise the bar in the legal profession, 62% of respondents agreed to more stringent educational requirements. Only 31% believe the correct level of education is being addressed by universities while 31% said graduates are sufficiently equipped.

“The prevailing issue of institutional accreditation of the LLB programme at South African universities appears to be filtering into the legal fraternity where there are concerns around the educational level and standard within the profession,” says Motshabi Nomvete, technical marketing specialist at PPS.

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PPS conducted an independent survey of 5,837 members at the beginning of 2019 to gauge their perceptions on a number of issues affecting the Engineering, Accounting, Dental, Legal, Medical, Pharmaceutical and other sector professions.

Legal (65%) was rated as the third most confident profession in the 2019 PPS GPI study. The top professions were accountancy (86%), other* (80%) followed by engineering (60%), pharmacists (60%), medicine (56%) and dental (47%).