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The Bar Council’s Advocates and Solicitors’ Compensation Fund

A. About the Fund
The Bar Council’s Advocates and Solicitors’ Compensation Fund was established in 1978 to protect the interests of members of the public whom, as clients of lawyers, have suffered losses arising out of the dishonesty of lawyers. One example is where a lawyer misappropriates monies held by him as a stakeholder.

The funds in the Compensation Fund come from compulsory annual contributions from every practising lawyer registered with the Bar Council. A fixed sum in the Compensation Fund, which is allocated annually, is used to pay out claims for a particular year.

The main prerequisite for a claim against the Compensation Fund is that the lawyer concerned must have been struck off the Roll of advocates and solicitors.

All approved claims are paid in full, unless the monies in the Compensation Fund for the particular year are insufficient to meet the total sum of the approved claims. In such an event, the grants are paid out on a pro-rated basis. Payments made to the lawyers as legal fees are not claimable against the Compensation Fund.

The Bar Council does not restrict the number of claims in a particular year, provided each claim is in compliance with the Advocates and Solicitors’ Compensation Fund Rules 1978.

B. Application Procedure
Each year, the Bar Council publishes a notice, in major newspapers, containing the names of lawyers struck off the Roll of advocates and solicitors in the preceding year.

Members of the public who have sustained any loss owing to the dishonesty of these struck-off lawyers may make an application for a grant out of the Compensation Fund, which must be done within 21 days from the date of the notice.

For example, the notice with the names of lawyers struck off the Roll of advocates and solicitors in 2009 was published in March 2010. Claims with respect to these lawyers must be made within 21 days from the date of the notice. The Bar Council would not entertain any claim in respect of lawyers struck off prior to 2009.

The Bar Council will appoint an Adjudication Panel comprising senior lawyers to review the applications. Claimants will be notified to attend a hearing before the Adjudication Panel, together with witnesses (if any) to support their claims, and must produce their original documents.

Upon conclusion of the hearing, the adjudicators will submit their written report with recommendations on whether the claim is approved (in full or in part) or rejected.  All recommendations must be approved by the Bar Council.

Claimants will be notified of the outcome of their applications for grants out of the Compensation Fund. Successful claimants will be requested to present themselves/their representatives at the Bar Council Secretariat on a specified date to collect the cheques.