It was quite shocking to read of a colleague's death at the Hillbrow Magistrates Court on Friday.  A client and attorney shot dead by a husband who then killed himself.  It shows how vunerable we are and that attorneys involved in divorce work often become embroiled in unpleasant family issues.

I addressed an e-mail to the Committee this morning requesting that we again look into the the issue of security at the courts and address correspondence to, and meet with, those who can do something about the situation.  Lets hope they act - although I somehow doubt it.  My principal withdrew from a divorce matter when his own wife and children were threatened by an enraged husband who was prepared to use all tactics to stop a divorce from going through.  I thought then they he withdrew somewhat quickly - as in immediately - but Friday sent a chill through me.  Some cases are simply not worth proceeding with.

The Law Society meeting on Friday dealt with a number of issues and the LSNP will be taking up the issue of Court security as well.  I do hope that the powers that be do respond to all the correspondence they will be getting!

Law Society meetings are all day meetings, almost always on the last Friday of the month and the agenda's, annexures and minutes are voluminous.  There is so much to go through, and so little time to do it that much is delegated to committee's of which we have a number.  I now sit on the Rules &Ethics committee as well as the Road Accident Fund committee.

Friday's meeting was attended by Duncan Anderson of the RAF as a special guest and I will report back, in our RAF newsletter, in as much as I can.

Sometimes one's name pops up on the most unusual ocassions - or indeed TV shows.  Gnerally of course publicity is good, but sometimes it is less than fun.  My brushes with the media are generally positive, apart from a part time journalist who toook to describing me as "arrogant" or something to that effect. 

On the other hand, the more you write for legal publications, the moor you open yourself to attack!  Attorneys are great at ripping things to pieces, but many struggle to build - which of course is useful!  My great news for the day was to hear that I have obtained my LLM from Wits University in Tax Law - which brings the last two years to a successful close for me.