After two applications, to which I did not get any response, I finally got an opportunity to have an interview with the LRC office in Johannesburg. A few weeks after, I got a call informing me that I was successful for a Candidate Attorney's position. I was ecstatic! I was excited by the fact that I was going to be part of an organization that since 1979 has used the law as a tool to bring about social, political and to an extent economical change through the types of cases it takes up and its other programs.

In the first six months at the LRC I was with the land reform project where I worked under the supervision of Durkje Gilfillan. It was at the time when the LRC was in its final stages of preparing for its challenge of the Communal Land Rights Act, also known as the CLARA case. We often consulted with clients who were living some seven hundred kilometers away from Johannesburg. That involved a lot of traveling and hard work. However, it was delightful to see the commitment of the various communities in challenging this Act. The participation did not only end in preparing for the court case. It also went on to making submissions to Parliament, which I was also part of, together with other Attorneys and reputable Counsel instructed by the LRC. It felt rewarding to be part of an organization that sought to promote access to justice and provide legal services to people who would otherwise not have received such assistance. During this time I did not only get the often abundant opportunity of serving and filing. I also got the rare opportunities (for Candidate Attorneys) of making submission to Parliament and drafting pleadings such as founding, answering and supplementary affidavits.

After a period of six months I had to rotate to another project of the LRC. However, before rotation, I also got a chance to attend the Winter Law School which was organized by the Mandela Institute at the Wits University in conjunction with the Seattle University's School of Law. I got a chance to attend lectures in Legal Writing and Global Advocacy and Advanced Constitutional Jurisprudence and Litigation. These lectures were given by Prof Jonathan Klaaren, University of Seattle Lecturers and some of the best legal minds in our country such as Justice Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and Prof Theunis Roux, among others.

I then rotated to the LRC's Constitutional Litigation Unit where I worked under the supervision of Jason Brickhill. I was at the heart of the work of the LRC. I was introduced to the silicosis case which is a case about former mine workers who were exposed to silica dust and as a result became sick with silicosis. It is still a pending case, it has not been argued yet. However, it gave me an opportunity to consult with the clients and attend consultations with counsel. The consultations were very useful and educational.

Around October, we were hit by a number of eviction applications that took place in the inner city. Hundreds of people from various buildings in the inner city had been illegally and violently evicted. Among the clients, were infants of about 6 weeks old and elderly people. As it was already summer, it was pouring with rain. The clients had been without shelter for about a day and had spent a night outside on the streets of Johannesburg looking after their belongings. For us it meant that we had to approach the court on  an urgent basis in order to get the clients back into their homes. Even on these cases, regardless of the time constraints, I got a chance to consult and prepare draft affidavits at no inconvenience to the clients or the legal team. We approached the court and were successful in all the eviction cases.

Reflecting on the work I have mentioned above and other work that I have not mentioned, I realize that it was possible for the LRC to do the work it did because we worked as a team in all the cases. Our teams often constituted of paralegals, candidate attorneys, attorneys and counsel and I am grateful to have been part of such a team because I learnt a lot.

I have now rotated to another project at the LRC and looking forward to continue helping people and being part of a team of human rights lawyers who thrive to make a real difference to other people's lives.

- by Bongumusa Sibiya

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