Checking an advocate or correspondent is in good standing
How a South African law practice checks that the advocate, correspondent or other practitioner it briefs is in good standing before it pays them.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Legal businesses in South Africa
A practice in Durban needs a correspondent in Mthatha for a quick filing. A colleague recommends someone, the correspondent does the work, and an account arrives. Months later the practice learns that the correspondent had been suspended at the time, and the client's money paid over to them for a settlement is not where it should be. Nobody checked, because everyone assumed someone else had.
Briefing another practitioner is a routine part of legal work. Checking that they are entitled to practise, and where relevant that they hold a current Fidelity Fund Certificate, takes minutes and protects the practice, the client and the fee. This piece explains what to check, where, and how to record it so the check is not forgotten next year.
The Code of Conduct and who it binds
South Africa's Legal Practice Council says its Code of Conduct applies to all legal practitioners, attorneys and advocates alike, as well as candidate legal practitioners and juristic entities as defined, and that it is effective from the date of its publication in the Gazette. The LPC publishes the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, the LPC Rules and the Code of Conduct together as the rules governing legal practitioners.
The Code was gazetted on 29 March 2019. It has been amended since, including by a new misconduct clause 2A added on 8 December 2023. A practice that last read the Code when it first appeared should read the current version, because it governs the people you brief as much as it governs you.
The lists the LPC publishes
The LPC's website offers Fidelity Fund Certificate (FFC) verification and publishes lists of legal practitioners, legal firms, and struck and suspended legal practitioners. Those lists answer the first question before any brief goes out:
- Is this person on the roll? Check the list of legal practitioners.
- Is the firm what it says it is? Check the list of legal firms, especially for a correspondent you have not used before.
- Have they been struck off or suspended? Check that list too. A suspension can happen after you first used someone, so a practitioner who was fine last year is not necessarily fine now.
Verifying the Fidelity Fund certificate
The LPC says Fidelity Fund Certificates are renewed annually, and that the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund cannot consider a claim where the practitioner had no valid certificate. The public can verify a practitioner's FFC status online.
That second point is the one that matters to your client. If you instruct a practitioner who will receive or hold money for the matter, such as a correspondent attorney handling a settlement or a transfer, and that practitioner has no valid certificate, the Fund's protection may simply not be there if something goes wrong. The check takes moments on the LPC's site; the consequences of skipping it can take years to resolve.
For a correspondent attorney who will hold any money on your client's behalf, verify the certificate every time, not just once. For counsel who will receive only their fee through you, the roll and the struck-and-suspended list are the essential checks; verify the certificate as well where the advocate is one who requires it.
On the supplier list once, checked again each year
Advocates and correspondents are suppliers to the practice: they send accounts, and the practice pays them. In Achekam a business keeps one supplier list with duplicate checks by name or VAT number, and quotations, orders and bills pick suppliers from it. Add each practitioner once, under their correct name and, for correspondents, the firm's registered name. The duplicate check keeps the same advocate from appearing twice under slightly different spellings, each with a separate history.
Then set a yearly routine. Because certificates are renewed annually, re-verify every regularly briefed practitioner at the start of each year, and note the date of the check against the supplier. A short list helps:
- Export or list the practitioners you have briefed in the last year.
- Check each against the roll and the struck and suspended list.
- Verify each FFC where it applies.
- Note the date, result and who checked.
File the verification with the bill before it is paid
The verification is evidence, and evidence belongs with the payment it supports. Achekam's Document Centre stores files in folders, which can be uploaded whole, previewed, downloaded, renamed, moved, tagged, archived and searched, and it keeps earlier versions when a file is replaced. Save a screenshot or PDF of the verification result in a folder for that practitioner, with the date in the file name, and replace it with a new version each year.
When the account arrives, the bill is recorded line by line with VAT. A bill that did not come through a purchase order must be approved before it posts, and it can be paid in one amount or in parts from whichever bank account the practice chooses. Make the approver's job include one question: is there a current verification on file for this practitioner? If not, the bill waits. Paying counsel and correspondent attorneys' accounts covers the rest of the payment routine, and the trust audit and the Fidelity Fund certificate explains your own practice's certificate.
The LPC's Fidelity Fund certificate verification page explains the certificate's annual renewal and lets anyone check a practitioner's status online.
Check every practitioner you are briefing this month, file the results, and put the annual re-check in next year's diary now.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
