I am a second year Candidate Attorney at the Legal Resources Centre in Cape Town. I attended the five (5) week Winter Law School Programme, which was offered jointly by the Mandela Institute of the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand and Seattle University School of Law. This programme provides an intensive introduction to global human rights advocacy from an African perspective. I completed two courses, namely, Legal Writing and Advanced Constitutional Jurisprudence and Litigation.

The Legal Writing course focused on writing clearly, concisely and precisely in a variety of contexts and to a variety of audiences. The course was presented by four lecturers, namely, Laurel Oates, Mimi Samuel, Lorraine Chaskalson and Vicky Bronstein. We were asked to complete a number of assignments. First, we drafted an explanation on how the legal system in our country of origin operates. This was useful as we also learnt about the federal system in the United States. Second, we discussed in depth the leading judgments legalising same sex marriages in both the RSA and the USA. Thereafter we were asked to draft a press release in order to teach us how to explain a judgment to a lay person. Third, we were given a set of hypothetical facts and asked to draft heads of argument in which we argue that the Equality Act is unconstitutional because it infringes on one’s right to freedom of speech (in so far as it deals with political speech). The aim of this task was to teach us how to write a persuasive argument. Thereafter we had to present our arguments orally – this was especially exciting because I had to know my argument well, understand it, and be able to think quickly when asked questions from the judges. I think that the lecturers who presented the course were absolutely excellent in their presentations of the course.

The Advanced Constitutional Jurisprudence and Litigation course was similarly interesting. This course was presented by Professor Jonathan Klaaren and Professor Theunis Roux. The course started out with a comparative view of SA law and USA law. We focused on the texts published by numerous political scientists, namely Fallon, Cockrell, Klare etc. We discussed in depth the meaning of legal legitimacy, social legitimacy and moral legitimacy. We looked at the legal legitimacy of the judgments handed down by the Constitutional Court. We spent a week discussing whether the Constitutional Court judges only make their decisions based on law, or if their judgments are influenced partly by their social, moral and political aspirations. To put it simply we tested the political scientists’ theories. Further, we looked at the tests used to challenge the constitutionality of South African legislation.

During the five-week course, we had numerous excursions and guest speakers at our dinners. We visited the Apartheid Museum, the Constitutional Court, the Voortrekker Museum, the Freedom Park Museum and the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. This year we were lucky enough to be invited to have lunch at Arthur and Lorraine Chaskalson's home. This was such an honour, to be in the company of the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. I also had the pleasure of meeting Constitutional Court Justice Yacoob, who was a guest speaker at our final dinner. We also had guest lecturers who are practising attorneys at organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign, the Aids Law Project and Lawyers for Human Rights. Lastly, we were a lovely group of law students, and we learnt a lot through our numerous informal discussions about how different our legal systems are. One thing that I learnt though is that our systems are quite similar, despite the fact that SA is such a young democracy.

This programme was an intensive five-week study of the South African legal system. I thoroughly enjoyed it, the knowledge gained will help me become a well-rounded practising attorney, and as a result I will be able to adequately formulate arguments that will be in the best interests of my clients.

Stacey-Leigh Manoek