In
South Africa, there are two main branches of legal practitioner: attorneys, who do legal work of all kinds, and advocates, who are specialists litigators. Attorneys may form
professional firms and practice in
partnerships, ranging in size to the
"Big Five" law firms. The profession is regulated by the
Attorneys Act, 1979 (Act No. 53 of 1979). See: Advocates in South Africa. There are currently around 21400 attorneys and 5000 candidate attorneys in South Africa, each of which are represented by the LSSA (Law Society of South Africa)