09 Aug 2020

The Legal Practitioners Bill is a product of many consultations with stakeholders including the Law Society of Botswana (LSB), Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security says.

The ministry was responding to an LSB press release entitled “The Law Society rejects the Bill that seeks to reenact with amendments The Legal Practitioners Act”.

The ministry says in a press release that the LSB communique made reference to issues which were never submitted for inclusion in the bill such as incorporation of legal practices.

The ministry says the consultative process with LSB involved reaching consensus on proposals made by either side, non-acceptance of some proposals by either party all done in the spirit of cordiality and harmony.

Some of the noteworthy progressive and transformative amendments contained in the bill, the ministry says, include introducing contingency fees to protect Batswana from unanticiapated huge bills as has happened in the past, improving the profile composition and quality of the currently dysfunctional disciplinary committee, as well as compelling the society to speedily deal with complaints.

The ministry further explains that the bill will further strengthen LSB by defining its powers and objectives and further bring clarity on issues of supervision regarding anti-money laundering issues by appointing its executive secretary as the responsible person.

As the bill progresses, various opportunity exists to address some of the identified outstanding matters relating to it in a transparent and constructive manner, the release says.

The ministry says it values contributions made by LSB.BOPA