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Reflections on the SASLAW Fellowship
A summer of law in South Africa (via Zoom)
The South African Society for Labour Law (SASLAW) is a non-profit organization devoted to the advancement of labour law in South Africa. For the past three years, the IHRP has sponsored three students at the Faculty of Law to work at SASLAW’s Pro Bono Project in Johannesburg. These students support SASLAW’s work on behalf of indigent litigants at the country’s labour courts. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
Why did you choose to work for SASLAW?
Ivy Xu (IX): I am very interested in international human rights advocacy, but I knew that the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) fellowships faced some uncertainty in terms of what their experience would look like during the pandemic. When I reached out to someone who did the SASLAW fellowship in 2020, it seemed that she had enjoyed a very substantive summer, so I was somewhat confident that I would enjoy the experience even if it had to be entirely virtual.
Jacqueline Huang (JH): I have lived in different places and have greatly enjoyed the experience of meeting people from different backgrounds and getting to know the cultures in different parts of the world. South Africa’s unique cultural and political history has created a lot of specific social, legal, and human rights issues, and I was interested in learning about how the legal profession can work to help resolve these issues. Despite working remotely due to pandemic restrictions, I still learned a lot about South Africa and I am glad that I chose to work with SASLAW for the summer.
Nicky Young (NY): I am excited about international law and human rights work, and SASLAW offered an amazing opportunity to work in both areas. In addition, South Africa has really interesting legal attributes and socioeconomic issues. For instance, its constitution includes socioeconomic rights and its labour laws have more extensive worker protections than the laws in Ontario, which made for fascinating comparisons!
What were the highlights of your fellowship? What was your favourite project or experience?
IX: An interesting project was when we were asked to find jurisdictions that have prohibited the breeding of canned lions for an NGO focused on animal welfare advocacy. Canned lions are bred in enclosures and with each other, which makes them susceptible to diseases. Their owners may drug them and place them in the wild to be hunted by safari visitors. The challenge in this research was that many countries around the world have lion populations, so we had a long list of potential candidates. However, given the general lack of public attention to this breeding practice, very few jurisdictions have actual laws on the subject. We explored various international law research databases, secondary sources, and some non-English legislation and eventually narrowed down our research to specific statutes. The NGO ended up incorporating a lot of our memorandum in their submissions to Parliament.
JH: My favourite part of the fellowship was the balanced mix of learning opportunities and social connections. In that regard, I am grateful to Clare Fincham, our program director, who arranged a variety of opportunities for us and created a fulfilling remote fellowship experience. Apart from undertaking research and drafting documents, we also connected with a range of organizations and legal professionals based in South Africa and Canada and had the chance to observe arbitration/mediation and SASLAW Pro Bono Office casework.
NY: I enjoyed the many opportunities we had to learn from experienced lawyers working in human rights work, international pro bono work, and labour law. All of the connections we made in Canada and South Africa were willing to share their projects, which enabled us to learn about issues even if we weren’t working on them. For instance, I really enjoyed hearing about refugee and migration issues in South Africa from one lawyer with the Legal Resources Center, and observing a labour arbitration in South Africa mediated by a lawyer working at a dispute settlement firm.
What were some of the challenges you faced this summer? How did you overcome them?
IX: For policy research, there was significant ambiguity and volumes of literature on certain topics. When I was asked to look into innovative approaches to public housing in comparable jurisdictions, I had to think about how to select relevant jurisdictions and decide which sub-topics to focus on. It was important to obtain periodic feedback in this process and discuss potential directions with my supervising attorneys. Zoom calls were usually more helpful than an email chain. It was also a good idea to ask for internal documents to get an understanding of what type of information would be most helpful.
JH: At one point, I was handling communications with refugee/asylum seeker clients of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC). They had applied for status extensions according to official instructions, but due to the pandemic backlog, they had not heard back from the government for months, and many were increasingly worried about their legal status in South Africa. In my correspondence with the clients, I needed to draw a rather delicate line in managing their expectations. I needed to let them know that the LRC was working to raise the issue with the government in the hopes of expediting the process, but ultimately we had no control over the processing of applications. That was not an easy message to get across, and I had to explain it plainly and repeatedly.
NY: International legal research was a new skill for me and, like Ivy, I was initially overwhelmed by the volume of information available on each subject. I found that it helped to identify the exact purpose of the research from the supervising lawyer and use this information to narrow the research to specific questions. I also agree that setting up regular check-ins to get feedback was beneficial.
What were some of your first impressions of SASLAW? Did these impressions change over time, and if so, how?
IX: I knew from the beginning that we would not just be working with SASLAW but would also be doing lots of research for the Legal Resources Centre. However, it was a pleasant surprise to receive work from the pro bono arms of major African law firms, as well as Ontario litigators and arbitrators who used to practice in South Africa.
JH: I agree with Ivy in that regard—I didn’t expect to learn about many social and legal issues beyond labour law. The variety was a pleasant surprise indeed and worked out well. Also, South African labour law is quite unique, especially in terms of workers’ protection, and that was very interesting to learn about.
NY: Like Ivy and Jacqueline, I was also aware that we would work with partner organizations more than working with SASLAW directly. From the beginning, I was impressed with the amount of work that SASLAW, especially Clare Fincham, put into making our remote experience invaluable. She continued to find us new and unique opportunities all summer!
What advice do you have for students hoping to be an IHRP fellow next year?
IX: Keep an open mind and be curious! There is a lot to learn about the South African legal system and social and political contexts.
JH: I know for 1Ls it feels too early to think about summer positions right now, but I’d say that starting to think about what kind of summer experience you would like to pursue early on is a good thing. It helps to take away the stress when the deadlines draw closer. Some opportunities in international human rights have earlier deadlines, so watch out for that as well. Get in touch with the past fellows (their names are listed on the IHRP website) in the positions you are interested in. Many are more than happy to share their experiences and provide suggestions.
NY: Reach out to past fellows and to IHRP staff members as soon as you know you’re interested! In my experience, all the fellows are delighted to talk about their summers and give a sense of the type of projects out there well before you have to put together an application. The IHRP staff are also incredibly knowledgeable and willing to help.