ROOTED
16th edition
Welcome to the sixteenth edition of our newsletter Rooted!
The 2022/2023 financial year came to an end with another constructive AGM attended by our directors and HoDs. We closed off our financial books on a great note and appreciate and value your dedication, talent, reliability, teamwork, and commitment to excellence. Thank you to everyone involved in making this firm a success. We look forward to continuing our new financial year 2023/2024 on this high note.
This month we would like to start by extending our traditional big Lawtons Africa welcome to our new Lawtonites, Sazikazi Mnikina and Nonhlanhla Sibiya, who joined the real estate team in March. We wish you all the best on your journey with us and trust that it will be a fruitful one.
Some of you may have seen that the firm has recently appeared in the media referring to old matters that have been cleared in the past. We would like to reassure you that it’s all old news and that the firm did nothing wrong and that it’s business as usual. Please refer all media enquiries to Winnie or the management board.
We trust that this new financial year will bring growth and even more success, as we are expecting a few new joiners in the coming months.
We wish you and your families a safe and lovely Easter break, a happy Pesach, and a joyful Eid!
We are currently working on the African Legal Awards submissions for 2023, due in April, and we’ll begin working on Chambers, due in May, shortly after. Team emails are being sent to the relevant directors and we ask for your participation and patience during this time. As mentioned before, we aim to improve on our directories and awards for 2023 and will need a little bit of extra input to reach our goal.
A reminder that we have included our Excitor in the engagement letter for our clients. Our Excitor is offering free legal advice for our qualifying clients’ employees and came into effect 1 February 2023. Please share our Excitor posts from our social media, so that we attract more quality clients from this.
Marketing material
Please click here for the latest internal directory (click download).
Company documents
To make life easier for us, we’ve created a folder on iManage that contains all the required company information documents for FICA purposes and other requests that may arise from clients. Please click here to access the documents.
Should you require additional documents (other than the ones in the folder) or encounter an error when accessing the link, please let us know; and we will assist.
New starter
Sazikazi Mnikina has joined the firm as a Senior Real Estate Paralegal, on 1 March 2023 in Penny’s team.
Nonhlanhla Sibiya has joined the firm as a Conveyancing Secretary, on 3 March 2023 in Melissa’s team
Medical aid increase
For medical aid increases see the attached table. Discovery Health Medical Scheme announced that its 2023 annual increase would be effective from 1 April 2023.
How to access your statement on the AF portal
Register on the portal see the attached “quick registration member brochure”.
You can easily access your pension fund statement here.
Performance appraisals
Performance Appraisals for March/April are continuing.
Third Rotations - CA 2022
The second-year CA’s will be rotating on 1 May 2023, this is their 3rd and final rotation.
University career fairs
University career fairs are continuing, check the following dates:
Professional Development Programme
Professional Development Training commences next week on 4 April. All session will take place on the 1st floor at the long table next to the employment practice area.
Associate Assessment
Assessments are currently underway and normal representations are to be submitted by 3 April.
BBBEE Training
Training is currently underway, and material will be shared with attendees at the end of the module presentation.
eLearning Platform has gone live
There is a 3-months free trial to access 286 online courses (https://training.elearning.co.za). The platform went live on 13 March 2023 and will close 13 June 2023.
YES Recruitment process ongoing
The applications for 2023 YES Initiative opened on 8 March 2023 and closed 13 March 2023.
WSP & ATR
The WSP & ATR report is due on 30 April. The report compilation is ongoing.
Please view our updated graph of fees, here.
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Pro bono Initiatives
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We will be providing training to LifeLine counsellors on 4 April 2023 (Eviction Process and Property Rights) and 12 April 2023 (Deceased Estates: Testate and Intestate Succession) at the National LifeLine South Africa office in Emmarentia.
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In celebration of Human Rights Month, we had a chat with some of our current probono clients on their experiences during the struggle. To view the video, click here.
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We are arranging a democracy awareness session and a mock election at a primary school in honour of Freedom Day. The date, time and venue will be communicated in due course. Volunteers are welcome.