BROAD BASED SKILLS TEST OF THE SCHOOL FOR LEGAL
PRACTICE
11 JULY 2019
SUPPLEMENTARY ASSESSMENT
The Statement of Facts consists of THREE (3) pages
including this page
STATEMENT OF FACTS
You are employed as a Legal Professional Assistant (LPA) at JB and C
Incorporated. You have taken over the practice of someone who was employed as
a LPA, but who suddenly resigned when he was asked to discuss a number of his
files with one of the Directors the following day. He gave no notice and simply did
not come to work the following day (when he was due to meet the Director to
discuss the files).
You are required to take over all your predecessor’s files You are handed a number
of files of existing clients with instructions to study the contents carefully and to
decide what action needs to be taken on each matter. You find many problems
with most of the files you study.
STUDENTS PLEASE NOTE: NO SUBURB/TOWN/CITY HAS BEEN
INCLUDED IN THE ADDRESSES IN YOUR FACTS. STUDENTS ARE
REQUIRED TO DECIDE ON A SUBURB/TOWN/CITY THEMSELVES IN
THEIR AREA TO USE WHEN ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS
1
FIRST SCENARIO
Pieter Meyer (“Pieter”) is 42 year old and is employed as a manager at Birds and
Bees Garden Services CC. Birds and Bees is situated at 12 Gibson Road, Pieter,
initially, resided at 12 First Street with his wife, Rita Meyer (Rita”). Pieter (a client
of the firm for some time, both for personal and business matters). Pieter calls you
on your first day to set up an appointment as soon as possible. He sounds very
upset, so you set up an appointment the next day.
He comes to consult you. One of the files you had looked at relating to Pieter
related to his divorce. You have seen from this file that the relationship between
him and his wife has irretrievably broken down and that he moved out of the
common home many months ago. He informs you that he is currently living with a
‘friend’, by the name of Joan Scheepers (“Joan”). Joan is divorced and is
employed as a nurse at the local Private Hospital. Her (Joan’s) previous husband,
Steve Scheepers (“Steve”) is clearly aware of the relationship between Pieter and
Joan and is not happy with it. He has on two occasions entered their home and
assaulted both Pieter and Joan. The first assault occurred at 67 Green Road, and
the second, after they moved to avoid Steve, at 98 Light Road. The last assault
occurred on the day before the consultation, which was the reason for the urgency.
Steve promised to come back soon and ‘kill them both’. Pieter informs you that
Steve also follows Joan and him on occasions to their places of work or wherever
else they go together. Steve is a professional mixed martial arts wrestler and owns
the MMA Gym, situated at The Hub, Second Street.,
Pieter informs you that that Steve has also verbally abused them both and that he
has recently taken to social media to vent this abuse. He has posted on various sites
things like Pieter is “a marriage wrecker”, “he sleeps with anyone and everyone”,
“he has no morals”, “he is the scum of the earth” “and other posts
2
which Pieter says he is too embarrassed to even verbalise. He says that this abuse
is causing him problems professionally.
Pieter instructed your predecessor to institute divorce proceedings in the High
Court some 6 months previously.
SECOND SCENARIO
This matter relates to a client Mr Kama, a local businessman. You note from the
file that your predecessor has been requested to institute an action in the Regional
Court relating to a claim for one of Mr Kama’s businesses. This has, as yet not
been done. In your view, there is insufficient information on file to draft the
necessary material statement of facts. You ask your secretary to set up an urgent
consultation with Mr Kama.
THIRD SCENARIO
A third file which you peruse, has very little information on it, save for a file note
stating that one Mr Steenkamp called your predecessor to inform him that he had
been very badly injured in a motor vehicle accident. It was noted that he had said
he was a paraplegic, having lost the use of both of his legs due to the accident. The
note further indicated that Mr Steenkamp had informed your predecessor that he
had been the passenger in a “hit and run” accident. According to the note, the
accident seemed to have occurred some 4 years previously
There are also other files on your desk which you will have to deal with as soon as
possible.
3