Gulam Rabbani :
The economic damage caused by the Coronavirus pandemic in different sectors has also affected the country’s legal professionals. Lawyers are the direct victims of the pandemic as their income has fallen remarkably narrow after that.
The economic instability that is going on in the post-pandemic world is also having a big impact in this regard. Litigants are flocking to middle aged and junior lawyers hoping to get services with less money. As a result, senior lawyers have fewer clients. Many senior lawyers are struggling even to meet their chamber costing.
There have been many changes in the behaviors of justice-seeking people in the last one decade. Earlier they used to go to lawyers with the mentality of taking legal services. In that case there was no condition of winning or losing the case. They hoped for the best possible in their cases.
But it had been observed in past few years that the litigants were contracting with the lawyers to secure court order in their cases on their behalf. But many of the senior lawyers who always gave good legal services and thought about the moral values are not willing to enter into such a deal. As a result, litigants are avoiding them.
On the contrary, a class of new and middle-aged lawyers and brokers are attracting litigants by promising to secure court order in their cases at any cost. In these cases, some are successful in securing court orders on their behalf and some are not. Both the classes are realizing huge amount of fees from the justice-seeking people. A section of lawyers even sometimes conceals information to win the cases.
Some senior lawyers said that due to various reasons people’s confidence to the court is decreasing day by day. As a result litigants are looking for brokers to confirm win in their cases. They want to run the case on a deal. Even they want to go to lawyers connected to the ruling party hoping to get guaranteed service. But the reality is different. In this way, basically the most of the litigants are being cheated.
They also said that even though the litigants approach the brokers or the lawyers related to the ruling party, the judges basically try to judge impartially.
Recently in the court another thing to note is that many lawyers take advantage of the weak condition of the litigants. They are realizing crores of taka as their fee in some cases. But according to the code of conduct, taking advantage of the weak condition of the litigants is a form of corruption. Recently, a lawyer received around more than Tk 20 crore as his fee from his clients. Another lawyer is said to have recently charged a fee of Tk 30 lakh for hearing a bail application.
Due to the lengthy process of the trial system of the country, many of the litigants come only to seek bail in their cases. After taking bail, they do not want to proceed with the cases. Many people go out of the country on their bail. As a result, the cases are not being completed. It also increases the case backlog in the courts.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossin said, “Many litigants demand from the lawyers to win their cases at any cost. Many lawyers also give this kind of assurance. Due to this kind of practice, the legal profession is being destroyed. Clients are also being cheated. Justice-seeking people should also be aware of this. Action should also be taken against lawyers who give such assurances.”
Supreme Court lawyer Didarul Alam said though the litigants approach the brokers or the lawyers related to the ruling party, the judges basically try to judge impartially and considering the facts and circumstances.
Covid-19 virus was detected in Bangladesh in March in 2020. After that the government imposed time to time lockdown across the country. Courts were also declared closed to maintain the lockdowns declared to curb the infection of the virus. Later a law was enacted to continue the court proceedings through online process. Lawyers also get a chance to breathe a bit.
However, although the court started its proceedings through online process, it couldn’t meet the demand of the lawyers. In many times the courts allowed only important cases to hear. As a result income level of the lawyers decreased drastically. Many lawyers left their chambers as they couldn’t maintain them with their short income.
Although the pandemic situation improved later and the courts started its normal proceedings again, the lawyers couldn’t return to normal position as before. In the midst of new economic unrest, the prices of every essential commodity have already risen. As a result, lawyers, like many other professionals, are in a state of extreme uncertainty.
