Wela Mlokoti was born and grew up in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. Her family moved to Bloemfontein when she was in Grade 10 and she completed the remainder of her high school education at Eunice Girls School, the top maths and science school in the Free State at the time. Wela has an LLB from the University of Cape Town which she received on a full bursary from the Free State provincial government for attaining 7 distinctions in her matric year.

In 2013, the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers awarded Wela an internship at the Kolodny Law Group in Beverly Hills, California after Wela wrote a winning essay on surrogacy law. That year, Wela was one of only 4 students selected from each of UCT, UWC and Stellenbosch to participate in the Cape Bar Exposure Program. The Cape Bar Exposure Program was designed to familiarize students with the Cape Town bar and it was there that Wela solidified her desire to ultimately become an advocate.

In her penultimate year, the recruiters at ENSAfrica (Africa’s largest law firm) invited Wela to interview for articles of clerkship and consequently offered her a contract to commence her articles after graduation. In her final year, Wela received a coveted clerkship at the Constitutional Court. She then deferred her articles for a year and worked in Justice Chris Jafta’s chambers for the period 2015/2016. Wela was then admitted to Duke Law School to read for her LLM and was awarded the Judy Horowitz Scholarship by the school in 2016, as well as receiving a scholarship from the Oppenheimer Trust. She was awarded her LLM degree in May 2017 and returned to South Africa to clerk again at the Constitutional Court for the remainder of the year.

Having deferred the commencement date for two years, Wela then went on to serve her articles at ENSAfrica. She is a published writer, and has written articles on a variety of issues ranging from cyber security to privacy rights. When she isn’t sharing valuable tips for law students using her social media platforms, Wela can be found blogging about natural hair or breaking a sweat on the squash court. Wela is also an avid runner, having run the 2 Oceans Half Marathon six times.

Tune in to hear about Wela’s extremely colourful and scenic route through her career in the legal profession.

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