Checked 2026-08-21Next review 2027-02-21Every detail read from the LPC’s own site
01
Quick Answer
In short
Two checks, not one. Confirm the practitioner appears on the Legal Practice Council’s list of legal practitioners, then confirm they hold a valid Fidelity Fund Certificate for the current year. The second is the one that protects your money, because without a valid FFC the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund cannot consider a claim.
- RegulatorLegal Practice Council
- Governing ActLegal Practice Act 28 of 2014
- Check oneList of practitioners
- Check twoValid FFC
- Worth checkingStruck and suspended list
- LPC010 001 8500
Registers, the Fidelity Fund Certificate requirement and contact details read from lpc.org.za on 2026-08-21.
02
What You Need to Know
The Legal Practice Council regulates legal practitioners in South Africa under the Legal Practice Act, No 28 of 2014. It publishes several separate lists, and the useful thing about them is that they answer different questions. Being on one is not the same as being clear on all of them.
The list of legal practitioners tells you whether a person is admitted. The list of legal firms tells you whether the firm exists as the LPC records it. And a separate list of struck-off and suspended practitioners tells you something the first list will not spell out for you. Checking the first and skipping the third is a common and avoidable gap.
The Fidelity Fund Certificate is where this becomes concrete. The LPC’s rule is that every attorney who is a sole proprietor or who is a partner or director
in a firm must hold a valid FFC, along with every trust account advocate who takes instructions directly from clients. Practitioners in the employ of the State or the South African Human Rights Commission are treated differently.
The reason to care is the consequence the LPC states plainly: without a valid certificate, a claim cannot be considered by the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund
. If you are transferring a property, settling an estate or paying a deposit into a trust account, that fund is precisely the protection you are relying on. An FFC is an annual document, so it is worth confirming for the current year rather than at some point in the past.
- List of legal practitionersWhether the person is admittedlpc.org.za
- List of legal firmsWhether the firm is on recordlist-of-legal-firm
- Struck off and suspendedThe list the other two will not tell you aboutlist-of-struck-off-lps
- Fidelity Fund CertificateAnnual; confirm it for the current yearffc-verification
- TelephoneIf a search returns something you did not expect+27 (0) 10 001 8500
- Head office851 River View Park Street, Riverview Office Park, Halfway GardensMidrand, 1685
All four registers, the FFC requirement, the Fidelity Fund consequence and the contact details read from lpc.org.za, checked 2026-08-21. Quoted phrases are the LPC’s own wording.
03
Step-by-Step Guidance
Five minutes, and worth every one of them before trust money moves.
- 1
Get the full name as admitted, and the firm
Not the name on the email signature. Practitioners are listed under the name they were admitted under, which is not always the name they trade or correspond under.
- 2
Search the list of legal practitioners
The LPC’s list of legal practitioners answers the first question: is this person admitted at all.
- 3
Search the list of legal firms
The list of legal firms is a separate record. A practitioner can be admitted while the firm on the letterhead is not what you assume it to be.
- 4
Confirm the Fidelity Fund Certificate
Use FFC verification and confirm it for the current year. This is the check that stands between you and an unrecoverable loss from a trust account, and it is the one most often skipped.
- 5
Check the struck off and suspended list
The struck off and suspended list is published separately and takes a moment. Do it even when the first search looked fine.
- 6
Confirm banking details by phone before paying anything
Phone the firm on a number you found yourself, not one from the email that carried the account details, and read the account number back to them. Intercepted correspondence is a known route for redirected conveyancing payments, and no register protects you from it.
04
Costs, Timing and Common Mistakes
- Cost of checking the LPC registersAll of them are published for the publicNone
- Time for all four checksOnce you have the name as admittedAbout five minutes
- How often an FFC must be renewedWhich is why the year mattersAnnually
Cost and timing are observations about the public registers rather than figures published by the LPC. The annual nature of the Fidelity Fund Certificate is the LPC’s own, checked 2026-08-21.
Confirming admission and stopping there
Admission and a valid FFC are different facts. The FFC is the one tied to whether the Fidelity Fund can consider a claim.
Not checking the struck-off list
It is published separately from the main list of practitioners, and it takes a moment to search.
Taking banking details from email
Confirm by phone on a number you sourced yourself, and read the account number back. No register catches an intercepted email.
Checking an FFC from a previous year
It is renewed annually. A certificate that was valid last year tells you nothing about today.
What this page does not tell you
This guide explains how to use the LPC’s public registers. It does not assess any practitioner or firm, it names nobody as in good standing or otherwise, and it is not legal advice.
If you believe a practitioner has acted improperly, the LPC handles complaints against legal practitioners directly, on +27 (0) 10 001 8500. If a crime is in progress, that is not a regulatory matter: see Explore Gezina emergency numbers.
05
Related Gezina Services
Where to go next.
Attorneys Gezina
Legal practices working in the area, and what each one publishes about itself.
Services in Gezina
Trades and professional services, with the other verification guides alongside this one.
Explore Gezina emergency numbers
For anything happening now rather than anything to be checked.
Explore list my business Gezina
If you run a legal practice locally and want a listing, at no cost.