| SRO Enforcement teams to visit 8 Penang law firms |
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| Contributed by Emily Lee Lai Ming (Executive Officer) | |
| Wednesday, 24 January 2007 04:33pm | |
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In her posting, Oon thanked the SRO enforcement team and said the team should visit firms in other States too. Tan said he and the SREC Deputy Chair, Ong Siew Wan would each lead a team, adding that the 8 firms were identified as a result of complaints received. Tan also expressed his disappointment that the SREC has received complaints that giving discounts is rampant in Penang, and some Penang firms are even giving discounts up to 70% of the fixed scale fees. He said if this continues, it is extremely unfair to those lawyers who abide by the no-discount rule, and this unethical undercutting and discounting will ultimately destroy the legal profession and the value of our professional services. "I am aware there are some members who feel very strongly against the no-discount rule, but that is not the way to go about it. "This is an unpopular job, but it is a job which needs to be carried out - which is to give effect to the mandate of the general body which voted overwhelmingly for the no-discount rule in the reconvened October 2005 AGM," said Tan. Tan emphasised that as stakeholders of this honourable profession, our members ought to stand together in solidarity to support the rule. Tan said the SREC is cognisant of the fact that enforcement of the no-discount rule will be more effective if the Bar also takes on those developers and financial institutions which have forced lawyers to accept fees below the fixed scale fees in breach of Order 6 of the SRO 2005. In this respect, Tan revealed that apart from complaining to the Central Bank against those financial institutions who have asked our members to ignore the no-discount rule, the SREC is also studying the possibility of taking these developers and financial institutions to court for inducing our members to act in breach of the said statutory provision. "I am grateful that we have a dedicated team of SREC members who have sacrificed their time and energy in trying to make a difference. "But at the end of the day, we are also active practitioners. We can only do this much. The rest is up to the general body to stand together in observing this rule for the common good of the Malaysian Bar," said Tan. Comments (4)
IT'S NOT HONEY, BUT POISON
written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, Wednesday, January 24 2007 05:39 pm
The SREC members have a job to do, unpopular thought it may be, and they are at last coming to Penang.
Keep it up!
written by Richard Wee Thiam Seng, Thursday, January 25 2007 12:53 am
Hopefully, with all these visits, members will respect and adhere the SRO. To the SRO enforcement Committee, keep up the good job!
SRO Enforcement written by Nik Elin bte Abd Rashid, Thursday, January 25 2007 10:26 am
They should visit Kelantan asap. A developer contacted me and asked me to do his really big project in Kota Bharu. But I must give the purchasers really big discounts..... because thats what all the lawyers in his panel are doing... I used to do a whole lot of work for him but I declined this time telling him that I cant afford the time.... Write comment
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KUALA LUMPUR, Wed: The SRO Enforcement Committee (SREC) soon will be sending 2
teams to visit about 8 law firms in Penang, said Roger Tan, the Chairman of SREC in response to
an 
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I must commend the SREC for their excellant work. Keep up the good job. I hope this will stop legal firms from giving discounts.