Page 11 - Transformation Report 2018/2019

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Vital to these initiatives is creating opportunity for students to
experience member firms and the practice of law. To create
opportunity for such experiences member firms annually host The Group has paid over
vacation programmes and allow students to apply for and R1.6 million in bursaries to
attend these programmes, to so gain valuable insight into the black candidate attorneys
law profession and build familiarity with member firms, making articling at member firms
the decision to apply for articles at a member firm a more
informed one.

To facilitate vacation programmes and article applications,
the Group’s centralised graduate recruitment portal at
www.phfirms.co.za/graduates makes applying to any member
firm a straightforward and accessible process. On the recruitment
portal, accessible from any device, graduates can find more
information about member firms, access important career
information and create a personal profile that the graduate can
maintain and use to apply for vacation programmes and article
positions at any one or more member firms. The ease of use
and simplicity of making contact with nearly 50 leading law firms
nationally has resulted in thousands of applications being received
and circulated to member firms nationally via this central portal.

Group attendance at law career fairs and open days is a
further education tool the Group uses to draw attention to the
career possibilities member firms offer. Group stalls hosted by
representatives from the Group annually attract considerable
interest and attention, and importantly, help foster national
awareness of member firms as a drawing card for young talent.

Other Group recruitment initiatives include sponsorships and
awards, moot court competitions, faculty prizes and the building
of relationships with various Law Faculties. A leading initiative is the
Phatshoane Henney honour medal programme established in
2011 as a Group initiative to reward exceptional performance
by law graduates across South Africa. The honour medals are
the highest award given to law graduates who achieve their LL.B
degrees cum laude (with honour) at nine of the top Law Faculties
in South Africa. By 2019, more than 860 honour medals have
been awarded to the top law graduates in South Africa, creating
an alumni of top jurists who are all recipients of the Phatshoane
Henney honour medal programme.

The Group has also established the Phatshoane Henney Foundation,
a non-profit organisation which aims to fund black male and
female candidate attorneys articling at Group firms and so assist
firms to retain candidates by adding a financial perk to articling
at a member firm. Since its inception in 2015, the Group has paid
over R1.6 million in bursaries to black candidate attorneys articling
at member firms, with R500,000 being paid in aggregate for the
years 2018 and 2019.

In reviewing the impact of these recruitment measures on the
appointment of black and female candidate attorneys during

Group Transformation Report for 2018/19