As legal aid lawyers in New Zealand are starting to be found out for their rorts—three down, eight-hundred to go—a story is just coming out of the States about a lawyer who sued a client for non-payment of fees — and ended up owing the client money. An amount in the six figures. [Hat tip Overlawyered]
Turned out the client he was suing was another lawyer, so he knew how lawyers’ bills get padded. Turned out that the bill included charges for working 31, 40, 39, and even 71 hour days. And even in the working day of a hard-working lawyer, and I’m sure there must be some, there are only ever 24 hours.
Meanwhile, in response to the exposure of the first of Auckland’s lying sharks, the three of whom sucked around $2 million from the taxpayer in the last four years, the lawyers’ union has leapt into action.
Its representative Jonathan Temm was on radio this morning calling for legal aid fees to increase.
a classic story dude, never hire a lawyer, never,
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