Charting a path law and life
Her journey proves that resilience and passion can turn uncertainty into achievement – and that every career path can keep evolving. Natasha Fletcher, Counsel at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, shares how her unconventional path shaped her career in law.
Although law has always been of interest to me, in Matric I wasn’t sure if it was the career for me. After much umming and aahing, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree with a view to changing course once I knew what I wanted to study. I was so unsure, probably insecure and definitely terrified about this next big step that just before orientation, I decided that I didn’t want to go to university, much to the disappointment and concern of my parents.
Law, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but with my parents standing firm on “you can’t go into the world with just a Matric”, I signed up at a secretarial college for a year to learn typing, shorthand, bookkeeping and other secretarial functions, including typing up of legal documents and certain conveyancing documents. I enjoyed college and become quite proficient at Pitman’s shorthand – a skill, alas, that I no longer use.
Finding passion in conveyancing
After the year’s course I felt more ready to go into the big wide world and secured a position as a junior conveyancing secretary in the conveyancing department at a law firm, where my passion for the field was ignited. It was exciting for me learn how to attend to transfers, draft transfer documents, and liaise with clients, estate agents and the various banks. I also helped in the litigation department now and again, which was also interesting. Receiving my first salary – R900 – was absolutely thrilling.
After a few years as a junior conveyancing secretary, I felt I needed to learn something new and, still not sure about law, I took to hotel management studies part time. Soon I realised that hotel management, especially the marketing side of it, was not for me and gave it up as a very bad idea.
From secretary to attorney
I moved to different firms over the years, which was beneficial to my role as conveyancing secretary, as I was exposed to different ways of working on files, approaching problems and dealing with different kinds of transactions. I took the best from each work experience and, over time, worked my way up to where I was considered a senior conveyancing secretary. During these years, I was privileged to work under some of the top conveyancers who taught me a lot of what I know today.
After some years, having chatted to many attorneys and having observed all the goings on in a law firm, I was absolutely sure I wanted to study law and be part of this interesting and vibrant profession – and so duly enrolled in a BProc degree through UNISA, while continuing to work as a conveyancing secretary at a law firm.
It was hard going and sometimes it felt as if I would never get my degree. October to December are usually very busy, pressurised times in conveyancing departments, with matters being pushed for registration before mid-December, and having to study for exams at this time of the year on top of the work pressures was at times totally overwhelming. There were many occasions where I didn’t even go and write my exams – my studies were for myself and so work came first. This, of course, prolonged the degree journey.
I become so disillusioned and demotivated that I eventually took a year off from studying. For me, it was absolutely the right thing to have done because I did resume my studies after the year’s break, motivated to finish. I wanted my law degree! There were quite a few more bumps along the way, including the discontinuation of the BProc when I was nearly finished and the switch to the LLB, with many modules added… Eventually I graduated with my LLB.
I was a senior conveyancing secretary at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr and really wanted to serve my articles at CDH because of the exposure and opportunities it would present, and so I continued in my position as senior conveyancing secretary in the hope of securing articles there. After quite a few years, I was offered articles at CDH with the proviso that I attend law school the year before I commenced. This I did – every Saturday, all day and many an evening too, while still working as a conveyancing secretary.
Shaping a career in real estate law
Articles is articles – what can I say? Being older than the other candidate attorneys did not worry me; maturity has its advantages. Even though as candidate attorneys you are all in it together, essentially you are on your own journey to your destination. Although I was exposed to other aspects of law in my rotations as a candidate attorney, I still gravitated towards conveyancing.
In one year, I wrote and passed the four Board exams, the Notaries exam and the Conveyancing exam. I have never felt as much pressure to pass an exam as I did when I wrote the conveyancing exam – there was an unrealistic expectation by many that I would easily pass the exam as I had been a conveyancing secretary for so many years! There is a very big difference between being a conveyancing secretary and studying and writing the conveyancing exam (which has a very low pass rate) to become a conveyancer. I cried when I heard I had passed the conveyancing exam.
Being admitted as an attorney, notary public and conveyancer will always be one of my proudest achievements. I was fortunate to be retained as a conveyancer at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr in the real estate department, which is where I really wanted to be. Moving from conveyancing secretary to conveyancer was an enormous mind-shift, not only for me, but also for my former secretarial colleagues with whom I had worked for many years. All credit to these women for helping me with the transition, and for respecting my new role, which sometimes felt surreal.
Having been a conveyancing secretary for 26 years has certainly stood me in good stead as a conveyancer, especially from a practical point of view. Theory doesn’t always match what goes on in practice. Also, it helps me to fully understand the day-to-day working life, stresses and strains of the conveyancing secretary, but it also means I know a “story” when I am told one!
Over the years, conveyancing has evolved, and conveyancers and conveyancing secretaries are expected do more on an ever-quicker basis. Gone are the days when you would you open a file, post your first letters to clients and then diarise your file for three weeks. Also gone are the days where you would phone through your lodgements, preps and registrations to different sections at the bank. Technological advances such as email, electronic instructions from banks and liaising with SARS via platforms such as Lexis have changed the face of conveyancing. With the advent of the electronic deeds registration system, conveyancing is going to be revolutionised even further.
I am especially grateful to CDH for the opportunity to journey from conveyancing secretary to candidate attorney and finally to admitted attorney, notary and conveyancer. The guidance and assistance of my team leader, my peers, colleagues and yes, conveyancing secretaries, has been invaluable in shaping me as a professional and as a person.
Evolving roles and responsibilities
Besides being a conveyancer, I am also counsel in the real estate department. At the time I was eligible to apply for promotion to director, CDH revised its career model for legal professionals by introducing a “counsel” role as a promotional choice instead of director. This role encompasses additional value-added responsibilities and support, such as playing an advisory role in relation to legislative and regulatory compliance, advising colleagues (junior and senior) as well as clients in resolving routine legal questions and also working as part of a team to provide comments on draft legislation relative to conveyancing, like the current draft Land Rights Bill.
I had not been sure if I was ready for directorship and this new role was certainly an answer to my dilemma, a role that suited me as I was in many respects already fulfilling part of the role of “counsel”. I am still learning and navigating the very many different aspects of this role and am enjoying this new journey. The door to directorship, however, is not closed…
