About this online course

Every practising practitioner, corporate in-house counsel, and legal advisors in all spheres of government must be able to write opinions effectively and in a manner that answers the clients’ mandate. This webinar will assist you to learn techniques in writing effective legal opinions. We show you how to research and write efficiently and at reasonable cost to client.

Learn that clients do not appreciate unnecessarily lengthy opinions. Keep it short.

The course will cover the following:

• Discussion on analytical thinking and problem-solving.
• What is ‘applied law’ and how to use it to write opinions.
• Technique to be applied in solving legal problems and making practical recommendations to clients.
• Writing techniques.
• Plain language usage.
• Types of opinions.
• The basic lay-out for opinions.
• The format of an opinion – current best practice.
• Research technique and analysis – how to be more efficient and save time.
• Using AI in your research, how to use technology to reduce research time.
• This is applied research, not academic research.
• The facts – how to obtain and how to work with facts.
• Fact analysis.
• The law – how to analyse and carry out effective research.
• How to find the law quickly. How much law do you need?
• Logical reasoning and analytical thinking – how to apply the law to the facts.
• How to apply reasoning and not to copy and paste from AI platforms and other online sites.
• Composing the opinion.
• How to present the opinion to a client in a user-friendly format; the opinion must be fit for purpose.
• Presenting the opinion to client in electronic format with hyperlinks for convenient access to authorities.

Presenter

Ismail Hussain SC is a former Judge of the High Court and Competition Appeal Court. He has been a highly popular LEAD trainer for many years. Mr Hussain SC is an expert in commercial drafting, opinion writing, litigation and case management. He is also a published author. He is a Professor of law at Nelson Mandela University.

Date
20 & 21 May 2025 | 13:00 – 16:00
Closing date for registrations: 19 May 2025

Note: Kindly note that this course might run over the scheduled time. Please do not arrange any other appointments for at least 30 minutes after the scheduled closing time.

What previous delegates said

• This was one of the best investments I have made to my growth as a junior counsel.
• A must-attend for legal practitioners.
• The sessions were very informative. Adv Hussain gave practical tips and advice on opinion writing. I will recommend this course to anyone who wants to improve their opinion writing skills.
• A superb presentation by an excellent presenter and very good notes. Thank you.
• I won’t be forgetting this course for long; it has provided many gainful insights and skills.
• Very informative and interesting seminar. Also enjoyed the touches of humour!
• This was a great course and truly valuable to young practitioners
• A well put-together and captivating presentation by our learned colleague!

Certification
Both sessions are mandatory to qualify for a certificate.

•    Corporate and government legal advisors
•    Practising legal practitioners (attorneys and advocates)
•    Candidate legal practitioners

Registration fee categories (including VAT):

•    Practising legal practitioners and other staff from legal firms: R 1 650 per person.
•    Non-practising legal practitioners/others: R 2 500 per person.

Kindly note that registrations are done online. For certification purposes, participants should register individually, using their own email address. This will enable the system to generate a unique username and password for each person.

STEP 1: 
Payment should be made by electronic funds transfer (EFT) only. You are required to upload the proof of payment (PDF) in step 2 – (Online registration form). Should an invoice be required to effect payment, replace the proof of payment document with a note (Word) requesting an invoice.

LSSA banking details: Account name: Law Society of South Africa | Bank: FNB Pretoria | Branch code: 251445 | Account no: 6200 9641 079 | Reference: OW, Surname, Initials

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER 

E-mail: Bettie@LSSALEAD.org.za | Tel No 012 4414670

• The LSSA will not accept liability for fees not paid into the designated LSSA bank account.
• The course will be conducted in English only.
• The course will be delivered via MS TEAMS. Please ensure MS TEAMS is installed on your computer before the course begins.
• In compliance with company policy and copyright regulations, no recordings or PowerPoint presentations will be made available after the course.
• Course materials and the course link will be sent to you via email approximately 24 hours before the course begins.
• Please test the links as soon as you receive them. If you do not receive the email, check your junk mail folder. If it’s not there, contact Bettie Lubbe at Bettie@LSSALEAD.org.za.
• No cancellations will be accepted after the course materials and link have been shared. Participants who do not cancel in time or fail to attend will forfeit the course fee.
• To cancel your registration, you must do so in writing before the course materials and link are sent. Cancellations will not be accepted after this point, and failure to comply will result in the full fee being charged.
• LSSA/LEAD reserves the right to postpone or cancel any program due to insufficient demand. In the event of a cancellation, registered delegates will be given reasonable notice, and all fees paid will be refunded.