# Three of South Africa’s major legal firms have joined Norton Rose Fulbright’s court challenge against the government’s legal sector black economic empowerment codes. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition published the sector codes in September last year. They include that 50-percent of black legal practitioners should have ownership, voting rights, and positions in executive management in the next five years. Bowmen, Webber Wentzel, and Werksmans firms argue that the implementation of the codes could cause them to lose billions in contracts with big banks and the public sector.
Three of SA’s major legal firms join fight against government’s BEE codes