What Does a Correspondent Attorney Do?

A correspondent attorney in South Africa is an admitted practitioner who handles court appearances, filings, and procedural steps on behalf of another firm whose offices lie outside the area where the matter is being heard. The role is governed by the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, which requires every practitioner carrying on the work of an attorney to hold a current Fidelity Fund certificate and to act in the formal attorney-and-client relationship with the instructing firm’s client. The correspondent is not a referral to a new attorney and is not a briefed counsel substitute — they are an extension of the instructing firm’s capacity in a jurisdiction where the firm does not itself hold itself out.

The Plain-English Meaning of “Correspondent Attorney”

A correspondent attorney is a South African attorney who acts on the formal instructions of another attorney or firm, in a matter where the instructing attorney is not on the roll of the court where the work must be done. The instructing firm remains the attorney of record; the correspondent steps in to perform defined procedural acts on its behalf, nothing more.

The term is most often used where the matter sits in a different province, a different magistrates’ district, or a different High Court division from the firm’s home office. Common examples include:

• A Cape Town firm needing a Pretoria-seat appearance in the Gauteng Division of the High Court.
• A Bloemfontein firm needing a Johannesburg appearance in the same Gauteng Division.
• A Pretoria firm needing Cape Town filing at the Western Cape High Court.
• A Johannesburg-based instructing firm needing an appearance at the KwaZulu-Natal Division, Pietermaritzburg seat, where it does not hold itself out.

The plain-English point is this: the correspondent does the procedural acts the instructing attorney cannot practically do in person, while the instructing attorney keeps ownership of the file.

Where the Role Comes From: The Statutory and Professional-Conduct Frame

The role has a specific statutory home. Under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, every practitioner carrying on the work of an attorney must be admitted and must hold a current Fidelity Fund certificate. A correspondent attorney is no exception — they are an admitted attorney in their own right and are bound by the same admission, practising, and Fidelity Fund requirements as any attorney appearing in their local court.

The Legal Practice Council sets the professional-conduct rules that bind the correspondent — including the duty to the court, the duty of confidentiality to the client, and the duty to communicate properly with both the instructing attorney and the client. These duties do not relax because the work is being done on another attorney’s instructions; they apply in full.

Two practical consequences flow from this:

• The correspondent does not, by virtue of being engaged, become the attorney of record. The instructing firm remains the attorney of record, and the correspondent acts under its instructions, not in substitution for it.
• Where the matter sits in a different province, the correspondent’s local admission is what gives them right of appearance in that court. The instructing attorney’s right of appearance does not extend by correspondence.

Before engaging a correspondent, the instructing attorney can confirm the practitioner’s admission, practising status, and Fidelity Fund certificate through the Legal Practice Council.

What a Correspondent Attorney Actually Does Day to Day

The day-to-day work of a correspondent sits in the procedural layer of litigation. It is court-facing and registry-facing, not drafting-facing. The six core tasks are:

1. Court appearances — appearing in motion court, opposed motion, unopposed motion, and (where briefed) trial chambers on behalf of the instructing firm.
2. Filings — issuing and lodging pleadings, affidavits, applications, and supporting papers at the correct court registry, and serving them on the other side.
3. Service and sheriff work — arranging service through the sheriff of the court where the matter sits; confirming returns of service; arranging substituted service where ordinary service cannot be effected.
4. Taking instructions from the client on the ground — meeting the client where local presence is required, including commissioning affidavits, settling declarations, and attending to identification inspections.
5. Liaising with counsel — instructing briefed counsel for the local appearance, settling heads of argument, and attending to the practical logistics of the court day.
6. Reporting back — providing a written report to the instructing attorney after each appearance or filing, recording the court date, the order or outcome, the next date, and any costs incurred.

Most of the practical value of a correspondent is in items 5 and 6: the local practitioner knows the registrar’s preferences, knows which filing line moves faster, and knows how the local magistrates’ court process actually runs on a given day.

How Correspondent Work Differs From Related Roles

The terms “correspondent attorney,” “agent,” “referral,” and “briefed counsel” are sometimes used loosely, but they do different things. The table below sets out the working distinction.

Role	Who they are	Effect on attorney of record	Typical work
Correspondent attorney	An admitted attorney with right of appearance in the local court.	Instructing firm remains attorney of record. The correspondent acts under its instructions.	Court appearances, filings, sheriff service, local client attendance, procedural layer around counsel.
Referral	A new attorney of record in the new jurisdiction.	Attorney of record changes. The original firm steps out of the matter.	Full conduct of the matter from the new jurisdiction.
Briefed counsel (advocate)	An advocate briefed to argue a matter.	Instructing attorney (or correspondent) remains attorney of record; counsel is briefed for argument.	Oral argument, heads of argument, court-day appearance on a substantive point.
Agent	Older terminology for what is now typically called a correspondent attorney.	Same as correspondent — instructing firm remains attorney of record.	Procedural acts done locally on the instructing firm’s behalf.
Candidate attorney	A person serving articles, not yet admitted.	Cannot appear in court or file papers independently of direct supervision.	Work done under the direct supervision of an admitted attorney.

The distinction that gets missed most often is correspondent versus referral. A referral hands the client over to a new attorney of record; the correspondent keeps the original attorney of record in place and only performs the procedural acts the instructing attorney cannot practically do itself.

When a Firm Needs to Engage a Correspondent Attorney

Firms engage correspondents for reasons that are practical rather than theoretical. The trigger points are:

• The matter is in a court district where the firm does not have a practising presence.
• The court date is imminent and instructing counsel locally without an attorney of record in that jurisdiction would not be procedurally compliant.
• Service through the local sheriff is required and the firm has no local address for service.
• The client needs a local attorney to commission an affidavit or settle a declaration in a different province.
• The matter is in a different High Court division from the firm’s home seat — for example, the KwaZulu-Natal Division, Pietermaritzburg seat, for a Johannesburg-based firm.

How Correspondent Fees and Cost Responsibility Work

The fee mechanics are settled in practice:

• The instructing attorney remains responsible to the client for the overall fee. The correspondent’s fee is recovered as a disbursement against the instructing attorney, not billed directly to the client.
• The fee arrangement is typically set out in correspondence at the time of engagement — a fixed fee per appearance, a fixed fee per filing, or on a time-and-disbursement basis.
• Correspondent fees do not include counsel’s fee, the sheriff’s fee, or filing fees. Those are separate disbursements.
• The instructing attorney’s professional fee for the underlying matter is set with the client directly and is independent of the correspondent fee.

What to Look for When Engaging a Correspondent Attorney

Five criteria matter when an instructing firm picks a correspondent:

1. Local admission in the correct jurisdiction — a correspondent admitted in Gauteng cannot appear in the Western Cape High Court for an instructing attorney who is not locally admitted there.
2. Practising certificate and Fidelity Fund certificate in good standing — confirm both before engagement, not after the first appearance. The Legal Practice Council’s verification tools allow this to be checked up front.
3. Court-facing motion-court experience — a correspondent who only does conveyancing or general practice is not the right correspondent for High Court motion work.
4. Existing correspondent relationships — firms that already run a correspondent panel typically charge per appearance at known rates and can take instructions on short notice. One-off engagements are slower and costlier.
5. Transparent reporting — the correspondent should commit in writing to a post-appearance report (date, outcome, next date, costs) within a defined turnaround.

The Gauteng correspondent panel run through a multi-branch firm typically satisfies each of these criteria at once: right of appearance at both Gauteng Division seats, working familiarity with the regional magistrates’ courts, and a reporting rhythm already embedded in correspondent relationships with out-of-Gauteng firms.

If you are an instructing attorney or firm needing a Gauteng correspondent — for a High Court appearance at the Johannesburg or Pretoria seat, for filing at the relevant magistrates’ court, or for after-hours bail instructions — Burger Huyser Attorneys fields correspondent work through its general litigation practice. The firm has right of appearance in the Gauteng Division of the High Court at both seats, working familiarity with the magistrates’ courts across Gauteng, and eight branches (Randburg, Midrand, Sandton, Roodepoort, Bedfordview, Alberton, Pretoria, Centurion) through which a single correspondent instruction can be administered across the province. Initial contact for a correspondent engagement is through the Linden head office on 011 888 0246 (after-hours mobile 061 516 6878); for after-hours bail instructions specifically, the Centurion after-hours line 061 516 7117 or Midrand after-hours line 077 274 1932 is the practical route. The firm carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex-verified as a Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa) and runs this work alongside its broader general-litigation and criminal-law practices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a correspondent attorney the same as the attorney of record?

No — the instructing attorney or firm remains the attorney of record throughout. The correspondent attorney is engaged by the attorney of record to perform specific procedural acts (court appearances, filings, sheriff service) in a court district where the attorney of record does not hold itself out. The correspondent does not become the client’s attorney by being engaged.

Does a correspondent attorney deal directly with the client?

Sometimes, but only where local presence is required and only within the scope of the engagement — commissioning an affidavit, settling a declaration, or attending to an identification inspection, for example. Day-to-day instructions on the underlying matter remain with the instructing attorney. Where the correspondent has direct contact with the client, the duty of confidentiality and the duty of communication run to both the client and the instructing attorney.

Can a correspondent attorney argue the matter in court?

A correspondent attorney has right of appearance in the courts where they are admitted, so they can appear in motion court and routine procedural hearings. For substantive argument, particularly in opposed motion or trial work, the instructing attorney typically briefs counsel separately and the correspondent handles the procedural layer (instructing counsel, filing heads, attending the court day) while counsel argues.

How is the correspondent attorney paid?

The correspondent’s fee is paid by the instructing attorney as a disbursement; the instructing attorney’s overall professional fee to the client is set independently. The fee arrangement is typically agreed in correspondence at the time of engagement — a fixed fee per appearance, a fixed fee per filing, or on a time-and-disbursement basis — and does not include counsel’s fee, the sheriff’s fee, or filing fees.

Why would a firm use a correspondent instead of simply referring the client to a local attorney?

A referral hands the matter and the client over to a new attorney of record; the original firm steps out of the picture. A correspondent arrangement keeps the instructing firm in control of the matter and uses a local practitioner only for the procedural acts the instructing firm cannot practically perform. For a long-running matter where the instructing firm is managing strategy, drafting, and settlement, the correspondent arrangement is what keeps the matter running in court without changing attorney of record.

Is correspondent attorney work regulated?

Yes — correspondent attorneys are admitted attorneys and must hold a current Fidelity Fund certificate under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014. They are bound by the Legal Practice Council’s professional-conduct rules, including the duty to the court, the duty of confidentiality, and the duty to communicate properly with both the instructing attorney and the client.