Queuing in the driving rain at the bus stop outside the Royal Courts of Justice last week, Obiter chanced across a lawyer chum just returned from Johannesburg, where, he said, it had been 20C and sunny every day.

The conversation inevitably led to the potential merits of setting up practice in another hemisphere. But that afternoon, the latest edition of De Rebus, magazine of the Law Society of South Africa, landed on Obiter’s desk.

The all-too-familiar headlines revealed that the South African legal profession is worried that too many people are qualifying into it, and is concerned about access to justice.

The letters page saw lawyers arguing over who is increasing costs by creating delays in court, and there is quite a debate raging over who should be able to conduct conveyancing work. Sounds a bit too much like home from home for Obiter’s liking.