Over the years, lawyers had been notorious in cheating the masses with their mischievous acts and thinking. I think it's high time to drop some codes in preventing yourself from being cheated by them. Always remember that lawyers are not trained to be cheating the masses but the Judas Iscariots among the lawyers are the one cheating the masses. Being caught in cheating the masses is an act that can attract an attractive punishment but many Judas Iscariots do it freely without being caught. Not to fall into their traps, I think you should know these:

Tips on how to escape from the Judas Iscariot of law

To escape from these people, you have to know that the lawyer you are hiring possesses the following qualities:

1. Communication
A lawyer must communicate with you in a way that keeps you updated about your case.
Communication problems can cause you to think that you have a bad lawyer when you don't, or that your lawyer is doing a bad job when he might not.
Your lawyer should give you a basic description of your legal matter and let you know what problems to expect, how they will be handled, and when things will happen.
And of course, your lawyer should promptly return
phone calls and answer your questions -basic
courtesies that many lawyers commonly ignore because they are so busy.
If the communication between you and your lawyer still remain bad after some talk with him (yet he didn't give a genuine reason for that) the best thing to do is to be smart and find another lawyer who can communicate well with you because without communication, the case is bound to fail.

2. Competency
A lawyer can be brilliant and might not be competent. Competency does not need your brilliance but your intelligence. Some of the incompetent lawyers do look for avenues to cheat on their clients (magas).
Competence is the core knowledge and expertise of the legal profession. Lawyers aren't machine and you cannot expect them to be always right every time. Moreover, people can claim that they are always right due to the fact that they passed the bar examination but it should be noted that since the bar examination had been passed, they might not have any test after that and also some lawyers only cram to pass and don't know the core knowledge and expertise of law.
However, some lawyers are so judasical in their action and act in an incompetent way either procedurally (not filing a case on time) or ethically (representing both side in a divorce case at the same time without notifying the either sides).
The good news is that you can sue the lawyer for any loss incurred by his action and the bad news is that such lawsuits are almost impossible to win and are always expensive.

3. Ethics:
Each state (country) has its own ethical rules and agency to discipline any erring lawyers.
Ethics of all the states in the world have common grounds and which include:
1. Representation of clients with total loyalty
2. prioritising the interest of the client ahead of his.
3. keep client's confidences
4. Indulge not in criminal activities
5. Maintenance of a separate bank account for the client
Any erring lawyer can be fined, suspended, told to return the stolen money, derobed (revocation of law license).

4. Fee:
This is where the Judas Iscariots show their true colour. As clients, you must be sharp whenever you are dealing with lawyers in this regard. Disputes do abound between the client and the lawyer on fee. commonly, the disputes are related to:
1. High fee of the lawyer
2. Itemised bills
3. Billing a lawyer rate for the work done by a paralegal.
4. Overcharge due to time spent on a case
5. Bill reduction due if bed job done by a lawyer.
The good news is that we can avoid this dispute by entering a fee agreement with the lawyer. you should ensure that this agreement is clear and easy to understand and has a mandatory arbitration clause in case there is dispute. you don't need to go to court to contest your fee whenever there's dispute if you include the arbitration clause in the agreement.

Note: there are many Judas Iscariots spoiling legal professions by trying to scam the masses. The above clues will help you to escape from the Judas Iscariots.




to be continued.....
#emaculate 2015

to be continued .....

You are clearly looking for relevance and wants to be noticed as the good guy.
Truth is, a lawyer, like every other professional is entitled to his professional fees. It lies on the bargaining power of the clients.
Do you have an idea of the energy, finances invested into becoming a lawyer? I bet you may not.
On the issue of ethics, its a different ball game. I may agree with you.

EHITZ:
You are clearly looking for relevance and wants to be noticed as the good guy.
Truth is, a lawyer, like every other professional is entitled to his professional fees. It lies on the bargaining power of the clients.
Do you have an idea of the energy, finances invested into becoming a lawyer? I bet you may not.
On the issue of ethics, its a different ball game. I may agree with you.

I understand how you feel. you thought am destroying the trade of law but am not destroying it. I am just telling things to know in order to escape being cheated by those who parade themselves as lawyers and those lawyers who are ready to cheat the people with their knowledge of law. The legal profession has etiquette and this article is written based on the etiquette.
lastly, am a law student and I know the stress and money that legal profession requires. is the stress and money invested in the study of law a justifiable factor in cheating the masses who might have little or no livelihood? Most Nigerians are living under $2 a day and with this should some lawyers still cheat the masses?

emaculate99:
I understand how you feel. you thought am destroying the trade of law but am not destroying it. I am just telling things to know in order to escape being cheated by those who parade themselves as lawyers and those lawyers who are ready to cheat the people with their knowledge of law. The legal profession has etiquette and this article is written based on the etiquette.
lastly, am a law student and I know the stress and money that legal profession requires. is the stress and money invested in the study of law a justifiable factor in cheating the masses who might have little or no livelihood? Most Nigerians are living under $2 a day and with this should some lawyers still cheat the masses?

I can bet that this mindset of yours will change when you get into the field. You will end up withdrawing this statement.
Because your parents are still footing your bills, you come here talk. Just give it a while.
even when you get to law school, they will teach you in "Law in Practice" class that a lawyer is entitled to whatever he earns in as much as there are scale of charges for legal practitioner.

EHITZ:


I can bet that this mindset of yours will change when you get into the field. You will end up withdrawing this statement.
Because your parents are still footing your bills, you come here talk. Just give it a while.
even when you get to law school, they will teach you in "Law in Practice" class that a lawyer is entitled to whatever he earns in as much as there are scale of charges for legal practitioner.

you are getting it wrong. I don't say that they shouldn't earn what they want to earn. I am saying that people should know this cos of some people who act as lawyers to dupe the people and some lawyers who are not following the law code of conducts . In "law in practice" you won't be taught how to cheat the masses but to protect the masses and the code of the practice of law in the society.