Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffery has criticised the status quo in which the fact that the majority of graduating LLBs are black but are still only being admitted as a minority to law firms.

He told the Law Society of the Northern Provinces this weekend: 'If one looks at the profiles of our law firms, it paints a rather disheartening picture. For example, if one looks at some of the firms who constitute the so-called 'big five' of our firms, there is cause for concern about the lack of representivity, especially on the level of directors or partners. My office found that in one of the 'big five' firms there are 123 partners, of whom 93 are white and only 30 are black. Of the 30 black practitioners, only 17 are African.' In contrast, only 33 per cent of graduating LLBs were white in 2011 while 47 per cent were black. Source: Mail & Guardian.