A THREE-year delay in the conferral of senior counsel status to advocates across the country has been affecting them badly, says the chairman of the Johannesburg Bar, Piet Louw SC.The delay in the conferral of "silk" status became public knowledge recently during a heated exchange at the Marikana commission of inquiry between advocate Dali Mpofu and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.Mr Mpofu was recommended for silk by the Johannesburg Bar Council but is yet to receive his letters patent from the president. But Mr Mpofu is not the only one — there are 50 advocates waiting for their letters patent, according to the Department of Justice.There is a vast difference in the kind of work done by senior and junior advocates. Those who have been recommended for silk but have yet to get the nod from the president are stuck in a sort of no-man’s-land: they cannot be briefed as silks, because they are not silks. But, as a matter of practice and convention, they are not generally briefed as juni...
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