According to Rufus von Abo, an attorney at Venter & Von Abo Inc/Ing, it’s a common misconception that attorneys are aggressive, but according to him, they should be aggressive in court and assertive out of it.
The role of attorneys is to help people in need. That’s why this legal practice decided to appoint a new attorney – to help the community overcome certain language barriers and to be more representative of the demographics of the area.
Nompiliso Mgojo is the company’s latest recruit, and will focus on criminal, divorce, maintenance and family law.
”I want to help the community at large. It’s not enough to use a translator if the person isn’t Afrikaans or English, because a lot of meaning gets lost in translation.”
A lot of people in the Westonaria district don’t speak or understand English or Afrikaans, and Nompiliso hopes that she can help them in the future.
According to Rufus, a lot of people think attorneys can’t be trusted.
“The practice of law is one of the most regulated in South Africa and the smallest complaint can lead to a full investigation. People have a misconception that attorneys want to steal their money, but that’s not true. We have a strict code of conduct,” Rufus said.
Rufus added that the practice employs an administrative team with vast and diverse experience. Rufus is an attorney and the managing director, which means that he deals with a lot of the administrative tasks in the office. He specialises in corporate, commercial, tax and family law, and Magistrates’ Court litigation.
“When I started as an attorney, I handled a lot of criminal and civil cases, but lately I do more corporate law,” Rufus said.
“We’ve recently worked on a lot more debt collecting and divorce cases than ever before. Unfortunately, people in this community are struggling financially, but we have designed a model that enables us to come to a resolution regarding debt collection before money has to be spent on going to court.”
Mignon Kotzé is one of the practice’s other attorneys. She does conveyancing and notary public work, and works in the city most of the time. Jo-Anrie Viljoen is a candidate attorney who helps the qualified attorneys in all aspects of general legal practice.
”Attorneys are not all aggressive,” she said, “but they are certainly not people you want to mess with in court.”
It’s not easy to become an attorney. It takes at a minimum of four years to get an LLB degree and then students have to practise as candidate attorneys for up to two years before they can take their final examination and become fully-qualified attorneys.
According to Rufus, it takes dedication and passion to have a successful law career, but most the important part is your love of helping the people of the community.
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