InfoUpdate
An Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society

11 December 2009

This professional service draws attention to current and important items of news
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InfoUpdate 26 of 2009
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Legal Profession

South Africa

Lawyers defy name change threat - 2 December
A row is brewing between the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and law firm Routledge Modise over the firm's decision to practise under the name Eversheds. The firm changed its "practice style" - the equivalent of a trading name - in July after it became a member of Eversheds International last year. Eversheds International is one of the biggest law firms in the world, with 47 offices in 27 countries. But the law society says practising under the name is a breach of its rules, which require practitioners to practise under their own names or the names of former partners. The firm has refused to stop using the name, despite the law society saying it will go to court for an interdict. Eversheds, in turn, has complained to the Competition Commission, saying the rule is anti- competitive. - Business Day website

Attorney jailed for trust fund theft - 27 November
A former attorney, who fled to the UK after stealing trust funds belonging to clients in disadvantaged communities, was sentenced to 10 months by the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Friday. Carl John Botman appeared before Magistrate Amrith Chabillal, who said he had betrayed the trust of entire communities, and sentenced him for one count of theft and 50 counts of fraud. Botman's sentence comes after he stole cash from 600 clients, who were allocated low quality homes by the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC) and had asked for his assistance. - Business Report website

Attorney kills client - 4 December
Earlier today a well known Bedfordview attorney allegedly shot dead the 50-year-old private investigator Kevin Trytsman whom he was consulting with at the time. The incident took place at the offices of attorney George Michaeledi in the Bedford Centre office towers in Bedfordview east of Johannesburg. Apparently a meeting had been scheduled to go through a contract but escalated into a fatal shooting wherein two shots were fired. Kevin Trytsman, is according to reports a well known but highly controversial figure with links to the intelligence community. According to Eyewitness News,he has links to the ANC's intelligence community as well as the former police unit, the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), whose members were linked to several apartheid era murders. - The Richmark Sentinel website

Top lawyer nabbed after fatal office shooting - 5 December
A well-known Joburg attorney will spend the weekend in jail after allegedly fatally shooting a former client. Kevin Trytsman, a 50-year-old private investigator, died after he was shot twice in the chest at the attorney's eighth-floor office at the Bedford Centre in Bedfordview. The attorney will appear in the Germiston Magistrate's Court on Monday. - IOL website

Private detective Kevin Trytsman shot dead, Bedfordview - 5 December
Private detective Kevin Trytsman, who once worked directly for ex-pres Thabo Mbeki, received amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after testifying he'd had access to a secret arms-cache as an Umkhonto-we-Sizwe cadre, and had links with two members of the apartheid-era death squad CCB, was shot dead with two gunshots in an attorney's office in Bedfordview yesterday. Picture by Wolfram Zwecker, Beeld journalist : the body of Kevin Trytsman is carried from attorney George Michaelides’ office in Bedfordview. - censorbugbear blog 

Attorney in court for murder of investigator - 6 December
A Bedfordview attorney who has represented clients for 20 years, appears in the Germiston Magistrate's Court today as a murder accused. The attorney has been in custody since Friday after private investigator Kevin Trytsman, 50, died in the attorney's eighth floor Bedfordview law office after being shot twice in the chest with a licensed firearm. The dispute, which started in a coffee shop on Thursday, involved a R36-million contract and Trytsman allegedly demanded his legal files as he wanted a change of legal representation. - Citizen website

Gunned down over R36m deal - 6 December
Businessman Kevin Trytsman was allegedly killed by his lawyer on Friday over a R36m contract, Sunday World can exclusively reveal. Sources close to the high profile case said yesterday that the fight between Trytsman and his lawyer, who cannot be named until he appears in court, started at a coffee shop at Bedford Centre in Jozi on Thursday, over a R4m cheque. The source says : "It is not yet clear whose cheque it was". Trytsman was allegedly escorted out of the building by two security guards working for the lawyer. On Friday morning, at about 7am, Trytsman arrived at the lawyer's office accompanied by a friend and demanded all his files as he wanted to change lawyers. - Sunday World website

InfoUpdate : an Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society