PLEDGE BY FIRST YEAR LLB STUDENTS
382 Varsity College first year BA LLB students from seven campuses laid down The UFS Student Code of Ethics of the Faculty of Law. The code of ethics ceremony has a dual purpose: Firstly, it formally inducts first year law students into the UFS Faculty of Law. Secondly, it entrenches the fundamental value of ethics in the legal profession in law students from first year level where they pledge to uphold the dignity and integrity of the legal profession, the reputation of the Faculty of Law of the University of Free State and the values entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996. New lecturers on the UFS LLB degree were also required to lay down the Lecturer Code of Ethics.
Says Fiona Kaplan, National Programme Manager Law: ‘The Ethics ceremony is a wonderful platform for an eminent member of the profession (such as a judge), to address our UFS LLB students on the topic of Ethics. This is at the heart of what a true lawyer is. The ceremony is also an important milestone in the law students’ legal studies which provides them with an opportunity to reflect upon what it means to be a “fit and proper” person, suitable to be admitted as a practising attorney or advocate’.