Lawyer fee - is this fair?

Garyvdh said:
He took the lawyer to the Law Society and they held a hearing and concluded that all these "fees" were fair and justified.

Bunch of freaking thieves and sharks. An honest lawyer is a very, very, very, extremely rare person to find.
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The organisations that are supposed to keep them in check are made up of lawyers. The problem is that they stick together.
 
It all depends on his hourly rate and time spend. The fact that you replied to his requests for additional documentation may be regarded as giving instructions to him. So he most probably charged you for the time spend perusing the emails and documentation. Attorneys are entitled to charge a fee for every document / letter / email received or send to you as well as for every phone call to and from you. Even if you just speak to the secretary on the phone you are charged for it on a time basis.

I know of attorneys that are charging an hourly rate of R3500,00 and more per hour.

You can request him to provide you with details on how he calculates the R1900,00
 
w1z4rd said:
Typo in subject. Asking mod to fix. Should be lawyer fee.
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In my experience this is common. Unless you negotiate a fixed cost upfront (all inclusive) you will be charged their hourly fee (which extends to all sorts of other things right down to phone-charges, duties etc). Two years back I asked a lawyer to help with a restraint-of-work issue and he wrote a simple letter which took no more than 1 hour, but cost me 3K - first and last time I fell for that.

Not sure why you need a lawyer to sort out perm-residence for your wife? If you are SA citizen it is just a matter of filling out the necessary forms at home-affairs and then wait. Similar thing if you are not a SA citizen - there I found that the wait is just longer. I have not read through all the posts, but in short, an attorney will charge you between 1-3K per hour for his work and they will bill you for every interaction they have with you. If you really need to get legal representation, than organise a fixed fee instead.
 
A father and his son walks through a cemetery. The boy reads on a headstone: ''Here lies a lawyer and an honest man''. The boy asks: ''Why are there 2 men buried on the same spot?''.
 
noxibox said:
Their code of conduct is not worth the paper it is printed on. They have a low incidence of disciplinary action because they don't take any action in response to complaints.
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Exactly, I complained to the Cape Law Society in March about my transfer attorneys.

When I signed all the papers I made it clear that I want the electrical compliance certificate as I don't want any funnies with all my expensive electrical toys. After transfer in November 09 I noticed plugs and lights that weren't working, etc... requested a copy of the certificate, only to be told by the transfer attorneys that one wasn't issued, because the sellers didn't have money, they said they held money back from the sale to do the repairs required... strange I only heard about it on enquiring. I then also found out from the sellers that they knew nothing about this... now for the catch, the transfer attorney sent me a letter saying they received the certificate in September 09 already.

When I complained to the Cape Legal Society the lawyers kept responding with different excuses, first they used the one they tried on me, then they said the electrical company didn't have time, which wasn't true, as they had from August to November - and when I spoke to the electrical company they said they never heard from the transfer attorney after doing the initial inspection in August. Attorneys also claimed they never sent a letter to me confirming receipt. (which I then sent to the Law Society)

After about two months of letters backwards and forwards the Cape Law Society said they found no wrong doing. :wtf: So they have no respect from my side.
 
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Somehow I'm not surprised that a society of naturally dishonest people found no wrongdoing when examing the business of other dishonest people.
 
I have to agree with Pitbull back in post # 9.
And there is no suing involved because it would end up in the small claims court where NO lawyers are permitted to represent defendants or plaintiffs anyway.
Do NOT pay him R500, he does not pass begin and goes directly to jail!
 
Everyone has a bad lawyer story they can tell. The moral of the story is that when you make the very first call, ask upfront "how does your fee work?"
 
If you are involved in a dispute with somebody else and they have a lawyer contact you and engage in email and telephone correspondence with you, who pays then? The person who hired the lawyer?
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Yes.

Unless it goes all the way to court and court makes a cost order.

What about personal injury lawyers who gobble up a substantial sum of the money paid out to the injured party? Isn't that why they ammended the RAF rules, to prevent greedy lawyers from profiteering excessively?
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One can enter into a contingency agreement at the outset.
 
blunomore said:
Yes.

Unless it goes all the way to court and court makes a cost order.

One can enter into a contingency agreement at the outset.
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Correct in both cases. With a contingency agreement they will usually take 20 - 25% of the amount awarded to you as their fee. (if they win )
 
Jamal said:
That's a relief to hear. I've had problems with a doctor and I've been instructed to communicate with the doctor through a malpractice attorney representing his medical indemnity society.
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Doctor as in plastic surgeon by any chance?
 
Russian brides can be expensive ;-)

Lawyers usually give you 30 minutes consultation to find out the problem and if they can help. This is not usually chargeable since they will also tell you their fees at the meeting.
 
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