Stellenbosch University Law Clinic (SULC) was handed the Corporate Counsel Association of South Africa Achievement Award, in recognition of its work providing legal services and education to the country's poor and marginalised during the past three decades.

Employing five attorneys and five candidate attorneys (plus an admin support of three), SULC's mission is to create a community that is legally empowered, that understands its rights and that recognises the importance of social justice. It does this by promoting fair and equal access to legal services, typically in the areas of evictions, family law, wills and estates, and general civil disputes. SULC also seeks to engage in impact matters and encourages its employees to publish research and other relevant academia in accredited journals (as well as seeking collaborations with international institutions on legal education initiatives).

In the first five months of this year, SULC helped roughly 900 individuals seeking legal assistance, with one of those cases potentially leading to precedent-setting litigation on disability discrimination and the interpretation of the National Credit Act. A judge said SULC was deserving of the CCASA achievement award for its contribution to society by promoting access to justice and supporting the legal needs of the most vulnerable.

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