Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Law Society Must Ensure Law Firms Are Insured To Protect Clients’ Money

Source : The Straits Times, 28 Aug 2007

I CANNOT agree more with Mr Heng Cho Choon’s letter, ‘Law Society should pay clients of errant lawyers’ (ST, Aug 25).

The Law Society of Singapore should make it compulsory for law firms to have proper insurance coverage to protect clients’ money.

The society could ensure that law firms hold proper insurance coverage before it renews the practising certificate of lawyers. The quantum of coverage could be based on the annual business turnover of the law firms.

A potential client could ask to see a law firm’s insurance coverage before deciding to engage its services. If the coverage is inadequate, he could ask for an enhanced coverage or go to another law firm that could provide him with one.

It is time for the society to look into this suggestion or come up with other solutions for compensating clients who have lost huge sums of money owing to the acts of dishonest lawyers.

Nelson Quah

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Easy to have such a scheme, but it is expensive? And at the end of day, the clients pay the costs....