Juanita van Wyk passed both conveyancing exam papers during the first session in 2024. She is currently a director at Cohen, Cronje & Van der Walt Incorporated.
Background
"I have the following qualifications:
- Baccalaureus Commercii with specialisation in Law from the University of Pretoria - 2005;
- Bachelor of Laws from the University of South Africa - 2009;
I was admitted as an attorney on the 25th of September 2009."
Motivation for enrolling at the Gawie le Roux Institute of Law
"I am a director of Cohen, Cronje & Van der Walt Incorporated, Bethal, Mpumalanga. I deal mainly with conveyancing matters and our firm is on the FNB panel for handling commercial instructions. The panel is reviewed annually, and our firm was informed that FNB required a conveyancer to be employed by our firm in order to retain our position on the panel. This left us with two options; either I would attempt to qualify as a conveyancer or we would have to employ a conveyancer. The latter was not the route we wanted to take. When I was placed in the conveyancing department as a clerk, one of the conveyancing secretaries gave me the notes of one of Gawie le Roux's courses in conveyancing that she had attended to help me understand the field better. I therefore decided, on the basis of my previous experience and the horror stories I had heard about the conveyancing exams, that enrolling at the Gawie le Roux Institute of Law was the right thing to do."
Preparing for the conveyancing exam
"I attended the Course in conveyancing (notes & video recordings). This was a great overview of the syllabus I needed to cover for the exam. The recordings allowed me to work through the syllabus at my own pace, which was amazing as I am a mum with three boys and a director in a firm that requires a lot of attention.
I also attended the Conveyancing exam workshop at the beginning of April 2024. During the course, we went through a lot of questions that had been asked in previous papers, while also reviewing the applicable sections of the syllabus. This gave us an indication of what to expect in the exam."
Juanita's study tips
"My personal experience has been that you need to allow yourself enough time to study the syllabus in detail. Having an overview of the syllabus is not sufficient. The exams were of the highest level I have ever attempted. I have a lot of work experience in this area and was still amazed at how complicated the questions were, bearing in mind that during the exams you are under immense pressure which you have to try to absorb. Any candidate will find the Gawie le Roux Institute of Law's courses, notes, module answers from previous exams, and support invaluable."
On passing both papers
"I truly believe I have achieved this through the grace of God and the amazing support of my husband, children, family, and colleagues."
A final word
"Take a deep breath, ignore the pass statistics and focus, focus, focus on the study material in front of you. You have no control over the questions you are going to be asked, but you do have control over your input. Every attempt is a win and a gain in experience. It takes a village to achieve this."