Solidarity tackles draft language policy
15 September 2020
The Guild for Law Professionals today announced that it submitted comments in response to the publication of the draft language policy by the Legal Practice Council (LPC). This follows the LPC’s recent attempts to promote English as the sole language in the legal profession by abolishing the language policy and implementing exclusively English entrance exams for lawyers in 2019, without following proper course regarding the changes.
The Guild for Law Professionals and the VRA (Society of Afrikaans Legal Practitioners) stopped this one-sided process by submitting a court application that forces the LPC to follow the correct procedure and accept comments regarding the matter.
“The draft language policy of the LPC seeks to regulate the use of official languages in the activities of this council in such a way that it undermines the right to freedom of language,” says Henru Krüger, Sector Head of the Guild for Law Professionals.
The Guild mentions in its comments that although the draft language policy mentions the promotion of multilingualism, the policy also explicitly states that the LPC will only accept English as the language of administration.