All who earn their living engaged in practicing the law are called lawyers, including judges, magistrates, advocates, attorneys, and university lecturers. There are two main branches of legal practitioners:

Attorneys are the business managers of cases and they decide when an advocate is or is not necessary to be engaged to act for the clients. Advocates have no direct contact with clients. For this reason advocates are said to be in a referral profession. Attorneys are the lawyers that clients see first with their problems. Attorneys give general advice in the law. Advocates (also called counsel) get briefed by attorneys to take on cases when a specialist skill is needed in a court case or in research into the law.

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The Free State Society of Advocates, commonly referred to as the FS Bar, has a rich and longstanding history. More than a century ago—in 1903, to be precise—a small group of advocates from the Orange River Colony established their own Society. This initiative arose following the enactment of legislation by the Law Society of the Orange River Colony, which expressly excluded advocates from membership. This development came shortly after the promulgation of the Administration of Justice Ordinance 4 of 1902, which not only established the High Court of the Orange River Colony but also made provision for the admission of advocates to practice and appear as “pleaders” before the Court.

As the legal profession evolved, attorneys soon established their own premises. The High Court, meanwhile, shared venues with Parliament, alternating between sittings in the old Raadzaal and the Town Hall located in President Brand Street. Nonetheless, as early as 6 December 1909, the newly admitted “pleaders” argued their first case in one or two of the courtrooms within the newly constructed, stately sandstone High Court building.

Unlike their attorney counterparts, advocates endured a more transient existence for much of the past century, frequently operating from shared premises due to the Bar’s distinct and evolving requirements and fluctuating membership. This continued—until recently.

In the mid-1950s, the Bar, then comprising 22 members, relocated to the Forum Building. As its numbers grew, it moved first to the Grotius Building, then to the Atrium Building, and finally, on 3 March 1990, to the Iustitia Building, by which time its membership had grown to 33. During the Bar’s 26-year tenure at the Iustitia Building, its membership more than doubled, reaching a peak of 86 members—the highest in its 122-year history.

The vision to consolidate the Bar within a dedicated facility, specifically designed and constructed to accommodate its unique needs, had been long held. In March 2016, this vision was realised with the Bar’s relocation to its new Chambers. This momentous move symbolised unity and marked the culmination of years of perseverance, dedication, personal sacrifice, teamwork, and collaboration. It also heralded a new chapter in the Bar’s transformation journey, which had commenced earlier that year with the amendment of the Society’s Constitution at the inaugural annual general meeting held in the new Chambers.

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