Exploring Legal expertise Beyond the Courtroom

Mr. Thabang Manamela, who joined the Department of Jurisprudence at UP Law as an academic associate, was recently promoted to assistant lecturer. He is an attorney who obtained an LLM in Law in Political Justice after falling in love with teaching law. His areas of interest in research are the writings of black liberation philosophers. He proudly relates how, in addition to giving a presentation at the Southern African Law Teachers Colloquium (SALTC), he chaired two sessions.

He completed the rigorous three-week Advanced Program in Alternative Dispute Resolution certificate program offered by the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) in collaboration with the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Law, demonstrating his aptitude for learning. Attendees are provided with an opportunity to expand their knowledge and proficiency in arbitration and mediation, two areas of the legal profession in South Africa that are expanding quickly.

The delegates are instructed in the theories and methods of conflict management and dispute settlement. The curriculum, which takes into consideration all recent advancements in the area, provides the most dependable and up-to-date conflict resolution program accessible in the South African setting. It also aims to cover practitioners from the business, labor, engineering, accounting, trade union, human resources, psychology, and engineering fields.

This course is delivered in a block week, which is an intense week that includes classes and assessments following the course sessions. Mr. Manamela found the arbitration and mediation to be the most useful of the basic modules offered, since they were more applicable to everyday legal issues in South Africa. He found the lesson on international commercial negotiation to be intriguing, but it was too conceptual for him because it was mostly focused on business. 

The most important thing Mr. Manamela has learned from this course is to always approach teaching and learning with a fresh lens and perspective, to have a teachable mentality, and to be willing to continue expanding his knowledge. Additionally, he was introduced to a completely new potential career direction before taking this course. He also appreciates that this training provides a different approach to resolving legal disputes outside of the traditional system of justice. Alternative conflict resolution is a field of practice that requires further investigation and increased public awareness will increase interest and uptake for this area of the law. This will contribute towards the development of novel legal approaches of combining or streamlining the law to be more accessible to people from all economic circumstances.

Aspiring attorneys are advised by Thabang to constantly endeavor to be meticulous, assured, and courageous. Legal practitioners have to remember what inspired them to pursue the Nobel profession of the law. His pursuit of legal studies and, eventually, teaching was motivated by his observation of the injustices that disadvantaged individuals throughout the world endure, his resolve to bring about justice, and his inherent curiosity led him to legal studies. This has grown to be his guiding principle and provides him with the strength to persevere through periods of difficulty.