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Appeal dismissed

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) welcomes the Supreme Court of Appeal's (SCA) dismissal of the application for leave to appeal in the matter of Proxi Smart Services (Pty) Limited vs the Law Society of South Africa and Others. The application was dismissed on 7 May 2019 on the basis that there is no reasonable prospect of success in an appeal and there is no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard.

Proxi Smart Services (Pty) Limited applied to the Gauteng Division of the High Court for declaratory relief concerning the lawfulness of its business model for performing the administrative and related services pertaining to property transfers that it contended was not by law reserved to conveyancers or legal practitioners.

The LSSA contended that the applicant's attempt at creating a distinction between 'reserved work' and 'non-reserved work' had no basis in law, and that the full conveyancing process is regarded as professional work performed by conveyancers.

'The conveyancing process should remain under the control of conveyancers. This is in the interest of the public whom they serve,' says the President of the LSSA, Mvuzo Notyesi.

The matter was first heard on 6 and 7 February 2018 and, in the judgment delivered on 16 May 2018, the Court held that the applicant has not made out a case for the relief it sought and dismissed the application with cost.

In December 2018, the applicant was denied leave to appeal by the Gauteng High Court. It then filed an application for leave to appeal with the SCA on 15 January 2019.

View all the Proxi Smart matter documents on the LSSA website. 

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