By this time, Mandela had earned his law degree and opened a practice in Johannesburg by 1952 with partner Oliver Tambo. The practice focused on apartheid-related cases, such as those that dealt with land-use laws that blatantly discriminated against indigenous Africans. Interestingly, the authorities forced Mandela and Tambo's practice out of the city based on the very laws they were trying to change. Being forced to move their practice highlighted the need for rapid and thorough changes to the law.

After a few years in practice, Mandela also worked on cases involving labor laws, university segregation, Bantustan segregation, and Pass laws, which restricted the free movement of black Africans. His work unearthed layer upon layer of unjust civil laws that systematically oppressed the native population of the region. For example, Bantustan laws referred to the setting aside of parcels of land expressly for the use of black Africans, but the...
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