Grossly unfair

Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine...dean of the Faculty of Law, UWI, St Augustine
Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine...dean of the Faculty of Law, UWI, St Augustine

THE Law Association (LATT) says it does not approve of the charging of exorbitant fees by attorneys to unwilling clients, but it was “grossly unfair” to taint the many honest, hardworking and devoted attorneys with unsubstantiated, generalised and publicity-catching statements.

The association yesterday weighed in on the debate on “too high” lawyer fees raised on Monday by Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of the West Indies, Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine in her address during the inter-faith service for the ceremonial opening of the 2019/2020 law term.

Antoine said lawyer fees in TT were the highest in the Caribbean region. She said ordinary citizens who had a right to be heard and to get justice on the merit of their cases were preventing from doing so “simply because it is too expensive.”

“We all think that we deserve high fees and high status because after all, we studied hard, we deserve it. However, our ability to demand such an elevated place in society came at a social cost.”

Several leading attorneys, including Attorney General Faris Al Rawi have defended legal fees charged by attorneys in contentious and non-contentious court matters.

They say the provision of legal services was subject to market forces, and guidelines are in place for the charging of fees.

In its statement, the association said it wanted to make it clear that it “deprecates in no uncertain terms the charging of exorbitant fees by any member of the profession to any unwilling client.”

It also said the many attorneys charge at rates “well below” those stipulated in the guidelines given by the courts and there were others who take on cases free of charge and who volunteer at legal clinics.

“The fees which the vast majority of attorneys charge are not to be judged by the highly publicised accounts of fees paid by the state. The vast preponderance of attorneys are not fortunate enough to receive State briefs.

“Indeed, the vast majority of attorneys are themselves struggling to make ends meet in a profession which is now greatly oversubscribed. We are not aware of any comparative regional or even national study of the fees which attorneys charge which may have informed Professor Antoine’s opinion that local fees are higher than our counterparts elsewhere in the region,” the statement said.

It also said attorneys were not immune from criticism and when it was due, the association will act.

“We do not for one moment suggest that the profession is free of attorneys who overcharge their clients at rates in excess of the judicial guidelines.”

“We remind members of the public that the charging of “unfair or unreasonable” fees is prohibited by clause 10 of Part B of the Code of Ethics which governs the legal profession and amounts to professional misconduct.

Attorneys who charge “unfair or unreasonable” fees are therefore susceptible to disciplinary action upon complaint by any aggrieved party before the Disciplinary Committee,” it added.

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