Advocate Allyson Crutchfield SC is also being interviewed for the position, having being unsuccessful in previous attempts. Her interview came after Bam’s.
Crutchfield faced tough questions from acting chief justice Raymond Zondo about why it took her 23 years to apply for silk. She said at the time she was discouraged as there were very few women who were silk when she started her practice. CrutchfieldQuizzed further by another commissioner on this point, Crutchfield conceded she was discouraged.
“You do lose confidence. You feel overlooked and undermined,” she said, alluding to the fact that she had applied for silk status before and was rejected. “You end up delaying applying and you are told you are not ready. There were structural impediments at that stage. They still exist but not to a great extent,” she said, adding that the type of cases she was given then did not allow the bar to consider her for silk.The interviews continue.