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Thread ID: 64436	2005-12-15 00:53:00	court query	lance4k (4644)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
412771	2005-12-18 09:15:00	Nice comeback Billy. I can't fault what you've done and I'm suprised you were fobbed off. The District Law Society sounds grand but in reality it is simply a group of volunteers doing a thankless job. When a complaint is investigated, not every fact comes to the surface. And mistakes happen. I know about this because I'm on our local Society and deal with complaints. In my opinion the barrister has acted unprofessionally. See Rule 7.03 of the Rules of Professional Conduct www.nz-lawsoc.org.nz And you are also correct in that he might not be ordered to pay - in which case the Disputes Tribunal is sensible. I've learned to my suprise that we cannot order such things. Instead we have to charge the lawyer with professional misconduct which is legalistic and time-consuming.	Winston001 (3612)
412772	2005-12-18 09:54:00	I've learned to my suprise that we cannot order such things. Instead we have to charge the lawyer with professional misconduct which is legalistic and time-consuming. Thank you for your positive comments Winston. So, what we have here then is a situation where the defaulting lawyer makes a cynical choice between the cost of paying his expert, or taking his chances with a professional misconduct hearing. I empathise with you on the thankless aspects of LS work Winston, taking an active role in the maintenance of professional standards will not only cost you dollars, it may also end up costing you friends. Well, I have plenty of court and tribunal experience, and I know how to prepare a brief, so if it proves necessary I'll be submitting a comprehensive file to the Disputes Tribunal, much the same as the one I submitted to the LS hearing, the only difference being that the LS dealt with the matter "on the papers" and behind closed doors, while the the Tribunal will have an opportunity to assess the applicant and respondent in person. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
412773	2005-12-18 10:16:00	In my case the eventual excuse was that the case was funded by legal aid and that payment had not been received by the lawyer concerned. My response was simply that my contract was with the law company that requested the services not legal aid and that if payment was not received within 20 business days, the matter would be handed to a collection agency. I would not normally take this avenue, but I was aware that the liklihood of ever being required to do work again for the law firm was negligible (it's not core business to do this ad-hoc work) so I would actually have placed it with a collection company. The check was received within a week.	godfather (25)
412774	2005-12-18 11:21:00	What sort of implications would a bad credit rating have for a law firm, could it affect the trust accounts for eg?	Murray P (44)
412775	2005-12-18 20:45:00	In my case the eventual excuse was that the case was funded by legal aid and that payment had not been received by the lawyer concerned . I didn't usually worry too much about legal aid cases, the money was often a little slow, but it came within an acceptable time-frame because the lawyers wanted their money too . That was until a major law firm ran up $12K and hung me out to dry for months . All queries were met with the standard "sorry, but Legal Aid hasn't paid out yet" . After several months of this, when normal cashflow was slow, I decided I needed the cash so I phoned a relative who works in a related area, found out how to follow it up direct with the relevant Legal Aid branch office (it was down on the east coast of the N . I . ) and got the relevant names and phone numbers . Contacted the branch and guess what, they hadn't even received the bill from the law firm yet so they hadn't been paid either! I contacted the senior partner, reminded him that lawyers were supposed to tell the truth and urged him to get things moving very fast . The cheque arrived within 14 days! We won the case too, after one aborted trial, a second trial that we lost, and an appeal that we won hands-down . At that point the Police withdrew the charges . Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
412776	2005-12-18 21:13:00	What sort of implications would a bad credit rating have for a law firm, could it affect the trust accounts for eg? :eek: :eek: :eek: Alarm bells should ring . The Law Society auditor would make a suprise visit and there would be an approach to the practitioner by the local law society to see what problems they were having . The practice might be placed under supervision of the law society . A bit humiliating but the clients interests come first .	Winston001 (3612)
412777	2005-12-19 09:46:00	Interesting Winnie, a response that one would hope for though . Not that I intend to have to get involved in anything like that :rolleyes: I get the destinct impression the civil stuff (+ WHRS) that I'm involved in is relatively safe . Lots of insurance litigation lawyers floating around, Govt and Local Govt .	Murray P (44)
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