Law firm offers pro bono work to help clear Joburg high court case backlog

Johannesburg-based law firm Thomson Wilks Attorneys has put forward up to four of its senior lawyers to be acting judges in the high court in Johannesburg to help alleviate the case backlog.

The firm has urged other firms to follow suit. It has also offered researchers to assist judges.

“Justice delayed is justice denied. The public already has a poor opinion of the law and the legal system. The problem here is under-resourcing. As a law firm we would like to be part of the solution rather than criticise the shortfalls in the system,” Stephen Thomson, director at Thomson Wilks said.

“If every other law firm offers to provide similar assistance, the four-year backlog would very quickly disappear. And that result would be good for everyone, including lawyers and their clients.”

Business Day recently reported the deputy judge president of the high court in Johannesburg, Roland Sutherland, had published a bulletin pleading with experienced lawyers to make themselves available for pro bono work.

The bulletin said that in commercial court cases litigants were likely to get hearing dates a year from now. Litigants suing the police will have to wait until August 2027 for trial dates, while Road Accident Fund matters can only be heard in 2029.

Due to many companies, listed and unlisted, having their headquarters in Johannesburg, the court is the busiest commercial court in the country.

The bulletin said that litigants in opposed divorce cases applying for hearing dates now were most likely to be allocated dates after November 25 2024.

For any trial matter that requires more than five days, one is likely to end up with a date after October 19 2026, the bulletin says, while for full court criminal appeals one is likely to wait five to six months for the allocation of a date.

khumalok@businesslive.co.za