There is a perception among lay people that an attorney is an attorney and a jack of all trades in the legal field, which is a misinformed perception which needs to be clarified.

We get attorneys specializing in most aspects of the law, but it is very rare that you get an attorney specializing in all aspects as the law is very broad.

There are a lot of fields of law in South Africa, to name a few, we have Conveyancers, which are legal practitioners specializing with registration of properties and transfers of same. We get litigation legal practitioners, which are attorneys dealing mostly in court matters, for instance your divorce matters, criminal matters, motor vehicle accidents. We also have legal practitioners dealing with estate matters, these practitioners handle matters after death, matters in relation to who inherits what after a person is deceased. We also get practitioners dealing with collection matters, these are basically some sort of debt collectors in layman terms. There are legal practitioners dealing with intellectual property matter, practitioners dealing with matters in relation to tax law, others are dealing with environmental law matters.

The various fields of law are inclusive but not limited to the above-mentioned.

In simple terms, when approaching an attorney, you first need to establish in which field of law does he/she specializes in. Most law firms deal with various fields of law but has separate departments within, dealing with same, meaning it is usually different legal practitioners dealing with different fields of law.

On the other hand, we have advocates, these practitioners are basically what you may refer to as “specialists” in the field of law. The latter mentioned also practice law, but they specialize in their respective fields of law just like attorneys dealing with only certain fields of the law.

In light of the above, it is very essential to approach the relevant attorney when faced by a legal matter. This shall save you time and money. Most attorneys are not jack of all trades in this noble profession but deal only with certain types of matters.